Brats Born With Swords In Their Hand
by Kae Aleah
Summary: With the dread of impending death, the victim doesn't blink when his head is cut clean off his shoulders. For over nine years, this tyrant known as the Kabuki-cho ghost roamed the streets as a hired assassin. Now, it seems that the ghost itself either passed on...or quit working for some reason. Where is the ghost now? Drinking next to you in a bar complaining about her new job.
1. Chapter 1

**Sorry, only so many words you can fit in the summary box. Here is the rest of it:**

**With the dread of impending death, the victim does not blink when his head is cut clean off his shoulders. For over nine years, this tyrant known as the Kabuki-cho ghost roamed the streets as a hired assassins. As quick as the wind, they seem to disappear seconds after the body dropped. Now, it seems that the ghost its self either passed on...or quit working for some reason. Where is the ghost now? Who knows, probably drinking next to you in a bar complaining about their new job at the Yorozuya.**

* * *

The empty black night was filled with the cooling sounds of blood-curdling screams, the quick and corrupted glimmer of silver separating everyone's necks from their bodies. Death rattles appeared for a fraction of a second before silence held the empty streets once more, even the wandering souls fled the area in fear that they may be next.

The lone survivor was going to bite his tongue right off with how much his teeth were chattering together, running with burning lungs down the empty Kabuki-cho streets with a mind filled with panic and hysteria. It all happened way to fast to even comprehend. His brain shutting down in this state of denial to even accept that it was possible to be that fast and quiet. It couldn't have been an Amanto nor could it have been a demon. He swore that it had to be the makings of a ghost who killed all his comrades. Not even taking 3 seconds to despatch their heads from their necks. No human had the capability of pulling off such a silent task.

The single man made a hard right down a darker than black alleyway and hid behind trashcans that smelled of rot. Sitting still and breathing shallow breaths, he prayed to every god in the world that he wasn't going to be next in line to be cut down.

Blood oozed through his teeth when he accidentally bit down hard on his tongue, hearing the sound of light footsteps crunching down on the gravel. His eyes snapped wide open and he waited with bated breath as the footsteps walked steadily right by his hidden alleyway, not stopping or anything like that. They just faded further down the street until he couldn't hear them anymore. Only then did he let himself breathe once again.

**_CLICK_**

The sound of a sword slowly being pulled from its scabbard made his eyes nearly pop out of their sockets, ears ringing like a siren was going off. A cold sensation washed clear through his body when he looked over his shoulder and saw it. A darkened figure standing at the very end of his hidden alleyway.

It appeared to be a short-statured woman who stood to be only 5'1, wearing a blue and white haori, a short white dress, and a black scarf wrapped around her neck to hide her nose and mouth. She also had this short, pale-colored blonde hair and these strangely unique ashen eyes that reminded him of a morning after a depressive global fire. Just the sheer emptiness and bloodlust that oozed through those eyes could even make hell freeze over. But if it wasn't the eyes then it was the sword in her hand, slightly pulled out and glimmering under the pale moonlight.

A corrupted silver.

The man lost all composure as fear overwhelmed his senses. He screamed out in utter terror and fled from the alleyway. His footsteps stomped hard against the ground and his lungs burst and burned from the frosty air. He needed to run. He needed to run faster then the devil could follow. He needed to escape or he'll die. He'll die! He'll die! He'll di-

He was forced to slide to a halt when in a blink of an eye, the ghost appeared in front of him, hovering upside down and in the air, body slightly turned to the side to pull her blade all the way from its scabbard. It swung out in this beautifully smooth and clean motion right towards his neck when...everything was swallowed black. The ghost landed on one knee and stood there, blade out to the side and dripping with crimson as the body behind her slumped to the floor. She glanced over to the side and saw his detached head roll over. His eyes were frozen with his last moments, wide with terror and denial.

She took in a deep breath and closed her eyes, feeling the splattered warm blood seep into her clothes. The blood was warm, that was a fact, but for some reason, it felt cold against her body. The ghost then came alert to the sound of distant voices, glowing lanterns soon bleeding through the night.

"The scream came from over here!" She could tell that it was the police.

She took her time and flicked the blood off her blade before sheathing it. A second later, she casually turned away and walked back into the alleyway, everything down to her footsteps was silent.

"What happened here!?" The police group of four came upon the scene in seconds to see the fresh slain body, still warm.

"Sir! I think I saw someone go into the alleyway just now!"

The head officer ran to the alleyway and pointed his lamp light into the darkness, but saw nothing.


	2. Chapter 2

**NO ONE WITH A NATURAL PERM OR ASHY EYES CAN BE EVIL**

This country wasn't always the way it was now, overly crowded with aliens that people call Amanto. They grasped ahold of the government tightly and then forcefully moved into Edo, brining all their shady businesses and sickness with them. At a time though, people could still remember when the country was at simpler and more dignified times, a place samurai could call home: Samurai Country.

During the Joui war, the Amanto made a harsh and lasting impression of fear against the simple samurai and won with flying colors, believing that they had crushed their spirit so no one will resist their rule. Though, it was unknown to them that not everything had been destroyed, for people still refuse to fall in line. The samurai weren't dead yet. This was still their country and people will protest, go against the rules, and carry out their own meaning of justice if they have too.

For instance, after 20 years had passed since the arrival of the Amanto, there stood this assassin in the dark, known as the Kabuki-cho Ghost. A hired hitman who would do any job if it paid well, even going as far as to take out high-ranking Amanto, to even low living samurai. It definitely rattled the bees nest and no one was safe if someone held a grudge against you.

There had been handfuls of accounts about the people who hired the ghost, but only a small group of them actually had the balls to come forth and give a description. A bad description but at least it was something. The only thing any of them could really tell about this person, that it was a small woman who resembled a child. Age still unknown.

All that was over 2 years ago though and not a single case of this murderer had come to light. It was like the person had literally disappeared into the afterlife or either hung up their sword for good. Still, not a single person likes talking about it anymore because the whole atmosphere would change, leaving a chilling undertone in the air that smelled of mystery and murder.

"Stupid, I said you...no! Not that! That right there!" The manager barked his orders down to his unfortunate employee trying to work a cash register. "Man, even a chimpanzee would work a cash register! You're human! You've been working here for a year now and you still can't get it?!"

Shinpachi awkwardly scratched the back of his head and looked away. "Sorry. I only worked with swords."

"You're still working with swords!?" The manager threw his fist against the boy's face and made him crash against the floor, his glasses slipping off and tumbling away from him. "Swords and samurai are gone now! Are you pretending to be a samurai, huh?" he mocked the poor boy.

"Hey, hey, that's enough, owner," called one of the Amanto that sat at the booth. There were three of them there, all having the body of a human but the face of a cheetah. "Hey, boy. Never mind the cash register, get me some milk."

He really was like a cat.

Shinpachi quickly picked himself up and straightened his uniform, though the bruise on his face was still present and throbbing. "Ah...yes, right away," he nodded.

The manager turned to the Amanto. "Sir, don't spoil him."

"Whenever I see samurai these days, I pity them. Swords get banned, and they lose their jobs. I've also heard the Hallowork job agency is overflowing with unemployed samurai. When we first came here, whenever there was a small disturbance, the samurai came to fight. These days, I feel like I've lost my fighting comrades. It's kinda sad." The Amanto casually stuck his leg out as Shinpachi walked by and tripped the boy, making the milk in his tray cascade all over him too. "It makes me want to bother them!" The Amanto only howled with laughter at his misfortune, no remorse at all in their high-pitched yells.

Once again the manager started to belittle Shinpachi, even grabbing him by his hair and yelling at him like he was nothing more than a dog.

"Hey," a rather dull voice came to light as a man with dead-looking maroon fish eyes stared down at Shinpachi and the manager. A fist went flying and the manager went sailing right into the Amanto's table.

"What happened?" they shouted and darted up from their seats to see who the perpetrator was.

The first thing Shinpachi saw was the color silver. A curly-haired man pulling out the wooden sword from his side.

Samurai? Though he didn't look the part.

He was about 5'9 ½ with a very lazy fashion style. His hair was the color of silver, curly and messy that looked like it could never be tamed. A white yukata with only one sleeve in, a black and red lined shirt with a popped collar, and knee-high black boots.

Nothing about this man said 'noble samurai'. 'Lazy samurai', maybe.

"Who are you?!" the Amanto demanded. "Carrying around a wooden sword when it's forbidden!"

"Gyaa Gyaa Gyaa!" the silver man openly mocked them with a lazy expression on his face. "Jeez, just shut up already. Is it mating season?" He lifted an empty glass and showed it to them. "Look at this. Because you guys are so disruptive...my chocolate sundae..." He suddenly struck one of them with his dull sword and knocked him out. "Freakin' fell! The doctor told me that my blood pressure is high..." He gripped his wooden sword tightly and attacked the last two Amanto. "So I can only eat a sundae once a week!"

His overwhelming physical strength was enough to knock the two out in one hard blow.

This man was too crazy to be a samurai, but also too strong to be normal, but one thing though...He had very straight eyes.

After all the Amanto were knocked out, The crazy man walked calmly to the door and looked back. "Tell the owner that it tasted good," he said before leaving as though nothing happened.

Shinpachi walked out of the shop and observed the man as he left. It all happened so fast. Here one minute, attacking another, leaving the other.

"Okay, Okay, move!" The police quickly stopped by. "Hey, there he is!" He said, shouting to a puzzled Shinpachi. "So you're the samurai that went crazy with the sword!"

Shinpachi immediately put his hands up to show his innocence and was just frankly confused as all hell. "Wait, it wasn't me!" he cried out.

One of the men looked inside and saw the three Amanto lying passed out on the floor. "Oh no. It's the Ambassador from Chatoransei! This is gonna be an international problem..." he inspected. "You really did it now, kid."

"Wait!" Shinpachi said in defense once again. "It really wasn't me. The man who did this already left!"

"Yeah, that what they all say." He grabbed Shinpachi by the arm. "You can only make up excuses after you hide your weapon." He pointed out the exact same wooden sword that was used...attached to Shipachi's hip, still dripping with blood.

Shinpachi stared at it in shock as everything slowly processed through his head. "Huh? What?!"

* * *

The silver samurai rubbed his chin as he drove through the streets on his scooter. "Man, this is bad. I feel kinda funny, not getting my sugar," he mumbled.

"Hey!" Shinpachi suddenly came sprinting up behind him in a mad dash with the wooden sword in his hand. "How dare you make it look like it's my fault!" he screamed with anger. "Because of you, everything is messed up!"

"Wow, you're an honest guy, coming to give me back my sword. It's ok, you can keep it. It's just something I bought on a class vacation anyhow." the silver samurai called back to him.

"No! I finally got away from the public officer! I told them it wasn't me, but no one trusts samurai! And on top of that, even the owner said I was the culprit!"

The silver samurai started to pick his nose. "Ah. You sure got fired. A clerk that can't even work a cash register is like a mother that can't make fried rice."

"You think that's all a mother is good for!?"

"Why are you making such a big deal out of this, you only got fired..."

Shinpachi swung the sword over his head like he was about to hit him. "There's no place's these days that would hire a samurai! How am I supposed to live for now on!"

The samurai then slammed on his breaks and caused Shinpachi to slam his family jewels into the back of the scooter.

"Quit screaming you rotten four-eyes!" The samurai shouted while Shinpachi laid on the ground, trembling and holding his manhood. "You think you're the only one who's unlucky!? In this world, there are samurai that call a cardboard box their home! Can't you learn to be more positive!? Do you even know what positive means!?"

Just then the store doors that they were in front of opened up and a pretty woman walked through, wearing a pink kimono and carrying bags in her hands. She was looking back into the store when she came out so she didn't see the silver samurai or Shinpachi yet. "How long are you going to be?" she called to someone inside.

"I just need to grab this one thing so I'll only be a minute. I'll meet you outside, Tae-san," a rough female's voice called back to her.

"Don't be too long, okay?" The woman then finally noticed Shinpachi and was confused to see him at first, smiling soon after though. "Huh, Shin-chan? What are you doing here? Don't you have work?"

Shinpachi gasped in horror upon seeing her. "Sis-sister!" He cried out like he was facing down a monster.

Tae suddenly gave Shinpachi a deadly kick in the face. The worse one today that can even knock the devil himself out. "What are you doing away from work, you idiot!" She climbed on top of him and repeatedly slammed her fists into his face, beating him while he was down. "Do you know what kind of situation we're in right now?! We need even your pathetic paycheck!" She wailed on him like a gorilla.

Shinpachi tried to defend himself against his mad sister. "Wait, Sister! All this happened because of that guy!" He pointed to the man who was trying to make his grand escape.

"Huh?" She turned around and saw the man, raising her voice to alert her friend still inside the store. "Canarie-chan! Don't let him get away!"

A small but blurry object of some sort came charging out of the store at a high speed, nailing the unsuspected silver idiot right in the face. He toppled off his scooter and his whole escape came to a giant halt. He laid on the ground, cursing to every god out there as blood poured from his nose. He finally looked over to what it was that hit him and saw...that it was a small stain-remover kid.

He about had his nose knocked clean off by a box of stain-remover...stain...remover.

"Ow, ow, ow...I think my nose came off!" Something then shifted in his eyes when they went wide, a sense of clarity mixed in with horror. "Cana...rie?" he mumbled the name as if he heard it before.

His ears picked up on the sound of a heel hitting the dirt, getting closer and closer before the large box was picked up off the ground. The man looked up and saw a woman.

The woman had a very fair complexion and was quite short too. Only reaching the height of 5'1. You could mistake her as a child because of that, but looking closely though, it was obvious that she was an adult.

She had shoulder-length, sandy blonde hair tied back with a dark pink ribbon, unique ashy colored eyes that looked like it was a mix between gold and gray, a pink and purple hakama that was quite modern-looking, and long leather boots. She also appeared to have something long attached to her back.

Canarie stared down at the man with strange eyes, fixated with this bored expression. "I just finished buying my stain remover kit when I friggin' hear Tae-san shouting my name." She tapped her finger's against the box and looked around. "I wasn't thinking and just threw the closes thing on me. So...what's happening?"

The man said nothing but stared up at Canarie with eyes of disbelief like he was having a hard time coming to terms with something.

* * *

_Kashira smirked like she always did but the tears across her eyes said a different story. __"Forgive me, Takasugi." she apologized before speaking in the quietest voice that very little heard. "Sorry, Canarie."_

* * *

The crazy samurai was then forced back to the Shimura household and was sat on his knees in front of the siblings and Canarie. He even had a big red imprint of the box right in the center of his forehead. "I'm really, really sorry. It was...my opening scene, so I wanted to make it grand, and...I went out of line! I'm sorry!" he apologized but it still seemed half-assed and weak.

Tae gave a kind smile... but it didn't match the knife she was pulling out in her hand. "If sorry was enough then we wouldn't have seppuku in this world. Thanks to you, our Dojo might not make it, and we can't keep relying on Canarie-chan!"

"Tae-san..." Canarie said to her in a wary voice to try and calm the mad-woman. She closed her eyes and sighed, a little more than annoyed. "It's already been 20 years since we began interactions with foreign countries. The Amanto just keep on coming, and we're at this point in time where you could easily mistake this place for somewhere else. And now the samurai...the ones who ruled back then, they disappear one after another." she spoke while walking around him.

The man squirmed in his seat as the woman circled him slowly like a wild animal ready to attack

"Samurai are now gone, and swords are banned as well..." Her eyes seem to wander to the long wrapped object leaning against the wall. "Aside from myself, no one has since come to this Dojo, and I've been trying to help these kids here, but they don't wanna use my money to help this place anymore."

Tae touched the side of her face and sighed. "Right now the two of us are working and we're somehow keeping it in shape. Nevertheless, we still want to keep this Dojo. Until now, we've been working our tails off, but..." Tae launched at the man with the knife above her head, trying to attack him. The man's life would have been short and glorious if Canarie didn't hold Tae by the back of her kimono. "Because of you, we did all this work for nothing!" she screamed like a banshee at the terrified man, swinging her knife around like a mindless gorilla.

"Calm down, Sister!" Shinpachi tried to talk to her.

"Shinpachi-kun! Your sister must've been raised by Gorillas!" The man put his hand up to protect himself against the knife. "Wait, wait, wait, wait! I won't commit seppuku, but I have a backup. Here." he quickly offered them a card.

All three of them leaned into the card to see what was on it.

Canarie was the one to read it out. "Yorozuya Gin-chan. Sakata Gintoki?" She looked up at him with suspicious eyes. "You're a freelancer?"

Gintoki got up off the floor. "In this era, you can't choose your job. So, I'm working a business where I'll take any job," he claimed very proudly, almost dramatically, actually. "I'm a freelancer. I'll do anything you need help with."

The siblings began to stomp on the poor man.

"We're in this mess because of you!"

"Find me a new job."

"Calm down! I can't find you a new job, but I can show you how to not be nervous when you're at a job interview..." Gintoki offered weakly.

"We don't want to know!"

Canarie groaned for what seemed to be the fourth time today. "Friggin' useless man. I don't see him getting a lot of clients with that kind of business," she mumbled as Gintoki laid on the ground beaten and bloody.

"Sister," Shinpachi spoke up. "I think it was impossible in the first place to try to run a Dojo these days. There's no way swords are gonna come back. What good will it do saving this place..?" he questioned.

"I'm not doing this for my benefit," Tae announced suddenly. "Do you need a reason for children to protect what their father had loved so much?" She was unwavering in her resolve.

"But Sister, what did Father ever do for us..."

The argument was abruptly cut off as the door was kicked down by a strange Amanto man with a bowl hair cut and a big nose.

"Hey!" He stomped into the Dojo like he owned the damn place with two bodyguards behind him. "You guys gotta pay today, no matter what!" He announced. "I can't wait any longer! I'm getting impatient!"

Canarie stared at the man firmly but cautiously. She crossed her arms over her chest and began to slowly shift over to her cloth-covered object across the room.

Gintoki sat up. "Oh, a debit. You kids sure are on a dangerous path."

"We don't, but our father did..." Shinpachi said quickly, alert and uncomfortable by the intruders suddenly barging in unannounced.

"What are you guys mumbling about?!" The Amanto shouted at them. "Hurry up and get me my money, you idiots! I wanna go home and watch a show that's gonna start soon!" It seemed he was at his wit's end. "I've been waiting since your father's generation! At this rate, I'm gonna go bald!" He turned to Tae. "Our promise was to sell this Dojo if you couldn't pay back the money, right?! Now let's keep that promise!"

"Please, wait!" she begged him.

"Why? Who cares about this dumb place anyway? You don't need to keep this place up for your stupid father! Who left you with nothing but a de-ajdhbwib!" A fist made contact with his face and he was knocked down with a bloody nose.

"Canarie-chan!" Tae called out to her in utter horror despite her friend's calm demeanor

Canarie stood over the big nose Amanto with the same emotionless expression on her face, cracking her fingers one at a time. "You should really watch your freaking mouth when you're speaking of the dead like that around his children." Her voice was eerily flat and unafraid.

The bodyguards quickly tried to make a grab for Canarie's shoulders and arms but they suddenly froze, stiff as a statue when she turned her head towards them, emptiness taking over her eyes, intimidating and dark. It left them unable to move as she just casually walked past them.

"Damn girl..." The Amanto stumbled to his feet and washed the blood off his big nose. "Don't think I won't do anything because you're a woman!" He raised his fist and tried to strike Canarie but his hand was held back when Gintoki stopped him, standing tall behind him.

"Let's stop it there, all right? She may have a pitching arm that could kill a guy, but she's still a girl." He said, the grip on the Amanto's arm getting tighter and tighter.

Canarie blinked and just looked up at him. She was confused, dropping her arm she had raised to defend herself. Questioning his intention, she wondered why he would even step in to defend her, despite knowing nothing...not to mention God smacking him with a stain remover kit.

The Amanto ripped his arm away and Gintoki quickly put his hands up. "Who the hell are you?! Are you a student at this Dojo? Damn, everyone here is screwed up!"

Canarie raised her hand and gave a slight smile to Tae and Shinpachi before looking back to the Amanto. "look...I may not be the most cooperative person, but...I can help them work off their debt."

Tae's eyes snapped wide open. She darted her head over to Canarie with concern and confusion written all over her eyes and face. "Canarie-chan!?"

"Hmp.." The Amanto huffed, but his eyes sniffed over Canarie's body almost pervertedly. "I get it now. Fine, if you insist..." He reached into his coat and pulled out a flyer. "This. I started a new business recently. 'No underwear Shabu-Shabu heaven'."

Shinpachi's face went red. "No-No underwear?!"

"Canarie-chan..." Tae's eyes wavered.

"In simpler words, it's flying adult entertainment. Right now, Adult entertainment is banned in Edo, but if it's in the air then no one can see it, so we can do whatever we please!" the Amanto snickered. "I've been collecting cute girls from planets. You're a cute girl yourself, so everyone would be delighted. So...are you ready for that?"

Canarie felt her stomach roll over and plunge straight down. She would rather work at the Yorozuya place then be In that line of business, but the decision was already made 2 years ago when she first came here. She made a promise to Tae and Shinpachi that she would help in any way she can so the kids could keep the Dojo. Canarie lowered her head and sighed, her appearance steady. "Fine," she said in a firm voice.

"Cana-san!" Shinpachi screamed for her but he stopped abruptly. Canarie looked to him, holding her hand up and shaking her head. "Cana-san...?" he quivered with helplessness.

"Canarie-chan-" Tae clenched her fist tightly.

"I know what you're going to say already, Tae-san." Canarie began to walk with the men towards the door, snatching up her cloth object too. "This is just me, but...I've never been to a Dojo before, so I never knew what it was like, but... if something is precious to you..." She stopped and looked over her shoulders. Canarie smiled warmly like a fire on a cold winter day. "Then it's only natural to wanna protect it?"

Canarie brushed by Gintoki on her way out. He looked back at her and started silently for the longest minute, lost in his own thoughts.

''Well, what a kind girl." The creepy Amanto snaked his arm around Canarie's shoulder but he stopped before he could touch her. It was a cold chill, a bone-chilling feeling that ran down his spine like a knife under a flame. He looked at the girl and heard it.

"Don't. Touch. Me." Her eyes were cold and empty but bloodshot like a beast, speaking in the raspiest voice he had ever heard. It would most likely haunt his dreams in the years to come.

The Amanto blinked once and it was like that 5-second experience never happened. He looked back to Canarie and saw her expression was now unreadable like usual. She wasn't even looking at him anymore. He even started to think that all that was something his mind made up. It never happened, is what he thought. But...he still had goosebumps.

* * *

Shinpachi continually swung his wooden sword over his head in a fit of anger. "What the hell is Cana-san thinking?! Why the hell would she go so far for this place?! It's all dad's fault, that bald bastard!"

"You dad was bald?"

"No, he was mentally bald-" He snapped his head over and saw that Gintoki was still here, decorating a cake too. "You're still here?! And why are you cooking at our house?!"

"I won't make it through the day if I don't eat my sweets."

"Then make a small snack!" Shinpachi calmed down a bit and sat down at the table.

"Don't you need to go after the girl?" Gintoki asked.

"I don't care. She went on her own will." He sighed and laid his head down on the table. "I don't know what goes through her head. Why would she go that far?"

The door opened and Tae walked into the room, her eyes distant. "Do you not understand, Shin-chan?"

Shinpachi lifted his head. "Sister? What do you mean.?"

Tae smiled, but this time it was sort of sad. She sat down as well at the table. "Canarie-chan. You know that she was quite a different person when we first met her 2 years ago. She was cold and unfriendly. I can tell that the way she lived was probably not the best, but very slowly...She began to change, and after that, I finally felt like we met the Canarie-chan that was underneath. This Dojo...is special to her as well."

Shinpachi stared down at the ground, but the tears welled up in his eyes.

Gintoki laid against his hand. Her words, Canarie's words playing out in his head. He got up and ruffled his hair. "I didn't think she was a samurai herself. They don't need a good reason to act. If there's something you want to protect, then pull out your sword. That's probably what little Canarie was doing. So..." He looked down to Shinpachi as he continued to cry. "You care for her, right?"

Gintoki and Shinpachi zoomed down the Edo highways in a hurry to catch Canarie and the Shabu-shabu boat before it could take off.

Shinpachi looked to the flyer. "Go to the heavens while staring at a beautiful sunset. First ride 4pm. Crap! The right ride's gonna depart soon! Can't this thing go any faster!?"

"No. Last time I got a ticket for going to fast."

"It's not the time to be thinking about that! Canarie is in no underwear danger!"

"You're making too big a deal out of 'no underwear'! In this world, there are people that call their newspapers underwear." Gintoki argued back.

Their attention was suddenly taken by the sound of a police siren, and a flying car coming up from behind them. It moved to their side.

"You there, the one without a helmet!" The police shouted to Gintoki since he was the only one who didn't have a helmet on. "That's against the law, dumbass."

"It's okay, I have a hard head," Gintoki called back to them.

"That's not the problem here! You're breaking the law. The law!"

"Shut up," Gintoki then proceeded to slam his head hard into the nose of the policeman. "I told you it's hard."

The police car fell back behind them. "Ahh! A nosebleed at this age!"

Off in the distance, they saw the Shabu-Shabu boat take off into the sky.

"No-underwear shabu-shabu heaven...it already left!" Shinpachi screamed out. "Cana-san! What are we gonna do?! It's already...Ah, Cana-san's gonna have no underwear at this rate!"

They then heard the police car from behind began to pick up speed. Gintoki looked over his shoulder at them, but a simple idea then suddenly popped into his head.

* * *

The short amanto man impatiently tapped his foot against the floor as he waited by the dressing curtain for Canarie to come out in her new clothes.

"Oh man, this is uncomfortable. A Gorilla can pull this off better then I could ever be." Canarie said from behind the curtain.

"You're done right. Just get out here already! How long does It take to put a damn kimon-"

"A long ass time if it's only you doing it!" Canarie shouted back almost instantly.

The amanto man flinched under her tone. "Just get out here!"

"Fine! Fine!" Canarie huffed loudly and finally walked out from behind the curtain in a beautiful kimono, but with Canarie making a disgusted face.

It was a long black kimono with different colored flower print on the bottom and sleeves. It hung off her shoulders and the bottom draped across the floor, exposing her legs. Her hair was pulled up, tied and pinned together with many lovely flowers and hairpins that dangled across her face. She would be considered beautiful if her face wasn't twisted with disgust.

"My head feels heavy with all these pins and it's hard to walk with these shoes." She looked to the high wooden shoes. "God, I feel like I'm at Yoshiwara..." She mumbled, her face drifting over to look out the window, hearing the sound of distant police sirens.

"Finally!" The amanto exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air. "I feel like you would get in a lot of customer with your looks."

"With your face, I'm surprised you even have a business like this." Canarie came right back with an insult while staring curiously out the window.

The amanto was taken back but shook with anger. He then pointed down to her. "Let's just get down to business. Take it off!" He shouted but Canarie didn't move, she wasn't even looking at him, only out the window. "Oi! Did you not hear me!?"

"Do you not see that?" She pointed to the window as the police sirens got closer and closer.

"Huh?" The amanto turned around and saw a flying police car flying right towards this exact window. "What the-!"

"Holy...!" Canarie quickly backs up out of the way just as the police car slammed into the room where they were. "What in the hell!?" she fanned the smoke away the filled the area.

multiple bodyguards entering the room upon hearing the crash. "Boss! What happened?!"

"A police car...came crashing into here! Shit, it's the police The officers came searching for us!" He said in a panic

"Calm down, this is just a rental car." An all to familiar voice reached Canarie's ears. Gintoki and Shinpachi stepped out of the car. "Nice to meet you. I'm from the Yorozuya."

"Cana-san! Do you still have your underw-" He stopped when he saw her, his face getting red suddenly. "W-W-W-"

"Oh, don't start with me." Canarie quick cut in, her eye twitching with annoyance. "What in the hell are you two doing here?" She fanned away the smoke.

"I came to get you, Cana-san!" He announced.

"You idiot!" The Amanto turned and screamed at them. "Don't you know that it's too late!? Shinpachi, you can't expect me to do nothing to the Dojo after all this, right!?" he threatened him.

"I..." Shinpachi clenched his hands tightly. "I don't care for a Dojo where the proud Cana-san has to do something like this!"

Canarie's eyes widen. She got up on her feet and walked over to lifted her hand up, patting Shinpachi on the head suddenly.

Shinpachi's blinked, his face red. "Cana-san?"

"Good man." She said, showing the smile once again from before she left the Dojo. The same smile to be proud of.

"Dumbasses! You three can't stop us! Go get them!" TheaAmanto surrounded them in seconds.

Gintoki looked around. "I'll keep them busy. You guys find something to run away in."

Canarie glanced over to him. "Are you implying we leave you here?"

Gintoki actually turned his whole body towards, staring down at her. "You two worry about getting out of here." He shifted back to the amanto. "I'll protect what I want to protect." He grabbed the handle of his wooden sword.

"You're..." Canarie's eyes stared at his back as he walked in front of her. She couldn't help think he had a strong and trusting looking back. "You're a good man too."

The amanto man pulled out a gun. "What the hell are you talking about!? Die!"

I movements could not be read. Gintoki pulled out his sword and in the instant, everyone went flying by just one hard swing. Canarie was left in shock and actually froze. He only had a blunt, wooden sword yet he was able to create this much damage in such a short while. His strength was almost unnatural. But she picked up on something while watching his movements. He was no amateur with a sword at all. He was a veteran really. It was kinda rough and wild, something that isn't taught but learn by yourself. He was extremely strong and very, very agile.

Gintoki swung around his sword with one hand. "Okay! Next!" He shouted as he moved through the crowd.

The amanto started in utter shock. "What is this guy?!"

"Shinichi! Go!" Gintoki shouted loudly to Shinpachi.

"It's Shinpachi!" He shouted right back to him before Canarie grabbed him by the front of the shirt and ran out of the room.

"Ah!" Canarie grabbed her wrapped object on her way out. Her and Shinpachi ran out into the long hallway. Canarie looked over her shoulder to see if Gintoki was there, but he was not. "Shinpachi, do you think he'll be fine?"

"Don't worry! He'll come back alive! Because I have a feeling that he has something inside him. That thing that my father was talking about a long time ago."

"That thing?" Canarie blinked in confusion.

They suddenly heard a scream from behind. They looked over their shoulder and saw Gintoki running away from the crowd of amanto at a full sprint.

"It's like you said, Shinpachi! He came back, but not like we thought he would!" Canarie shouted in annoyance.

"I was hard! Harder than I thought!" Gintoki ran beside them.

"What wrong with you, you idiot! You didn't last long at all!" Canarie shouted at him, an anger mark appearing on her forehead.

"Shut up! The writer wants to hurry up and get this chapter done! Just find something to escape with!"

Shinpachi quickly turned a corner. "How about here?" They ran into an open door, right into an opened room with a large core device in the center.

"This..." Canarie skid to a halt. "The generator room?"

"It's a dead end."

They turned around and the amanto enter the room. The man from before pointed his gun at them.

"That's enough running around. You guys are pathetic. The samurai once ruled the country, and yet can't even protect one girl."

Canarie glared. "Shinpachi. You and Tae-san agree that you don't care for the Dojo anymore now, right?" She asked suddenly, but her voice was very calm.

"What? Yeah. Cana-san, we did this for you, our most dear friend..." Shinpachi looked down to the ground. He felt defeated that he could not do anything else to protect Canarie.

"I see...So It doesn't matter what happens here anymore, right?"

Shinpachi picked his head up, but he felt a shiver down his spine when he looked into her eyes. Cold and distant. The coldest night in winter. The harshest snow. The frostiest waters. They were bloodshot. Like the wildest beat. The most deranged animal. The most destructive berserker...

"Cana-san...?"

"So you don't care what happens to these guys, right? So that means I shouldn't have to hold back anymore...right?" Canarie lifted the covered object in front of her. She tugged on the string and it came loose. The cloth wrapped around it slowly fell to the floor, showing a beautiful sword with a red scabbard with a black cord and handle.

Gintoki felt a chill too, but it's been a while since he felt such intimidating bloodlust. It was like a switch going off in her head. The woman he's looking at right now and the one from a few seconds ago was now two completely different people.

There was this killer that went on in Kabuki-cho for 9 long years. The bodies were found seconds after the crime was committed, but the killer was never found, somehow disappearing like it was never there. So the killer eared a nickname: The Ghost of Kabuki-cho.

"You're still carrying a sword? Even after it's banned?" The amanto pointed his gun to Canarie's unfazed face, but he felt the chill as well even after being all the way over here. So it wasn't an illusion back then. That blood lust was real.

"Don't think...that I'm someone who needs protection..." Her voice was rough and raspy like before.

One of the bodyguards quickly grabbed the amanto boss. "Wait! Don't shoot, Boss! What are you gonna do if it hits that? The whole ship would fall!"

The amanto lowered his gun. "Damn...I almost forgot."

"If your done spacing out then I would like so hurry up and get this done and go home," Canarie called to them.

Gintoki's eyes widen when he saw Canarie take a stance. It was different from other samurai stances. Her legs were bent way too much and spread out too far. Her body was twisted to the point where her sword was facing away from the Amanto. All her weight was put on her back foot, to get a good and fast start. Her sword wasn't even drawn yet, she still kept her hand on the handle.

He knows that stance. He has seen it many times before in the past.

* * *

_"Hey, it's nice to meet you. I'm Kurojina Kashira, from Kabuki-_cho_ district of Edo."_

* * *

_Her brilliant figure stood on the blood stain battlefield under the gloomiest sky. Her bodies drenched with blood and her raw hand slowly reaching for her blade as she got into position, seconds later she just up and disappeared, leaving behind a path of newly cut bodies._

_It was that speed which looked like she just disappeared right where she was standing. It was on this battlefield where she earned the nickname:_

_The Joui Specter._

* * *

_"Ah~ I wanna hurry up, win or lose, and get back home to Canarie. She's probably worried about me."_

* * *

There were only two people who fought like this...Kurojina Kashira and her little sister like figure Manakoto Canarie.

Canarie leaned forwards very slightly, and like that...disappeared.

"What?" The amanto held up his gun but felt the chill right beside him.

BANG

Canarie hung upside down beside him with her sword already out. She dropped to her knees and rolled back to her feet, quickly putting her sword back in her sheath. She looked over her shoulder and all the amanto shook for a moment before they fell unconscious on the floor.

"Don't be such a drama queen. I used the back of the sword." Canarie shook her head.

To think such a girl would hold a title like that. A title that would make a full grown man and amanto shiver with fear. It's why not many people go out late at night anymore, fearing that they would get killed by this said 'ghost'.

"Umm." Gintoki held up his hand, getting Canarie's attention. "Do we have to worry about this?" He pointed to the core that had a bullet hole in it.

Canarie blinked. "Huh?"

The whole ship then started to lose altitude and plummet to the earth. Shinpachi screamed out and Gintoki held his mouth.

"I feel sick..."

Canarie fell along with the two, completely calm and even having her arms crossed. "It must be the feeling of falling, huh?"

* * *

Long story short, the amantos got arrested and the three came out just fine. Gintoki was in the back arguing with the police officer that he headbutted to get the car, saying his face looks better like that anyways.

Canarie dangled her feet over the harbor and using the kimono to conceal her sword. She gazed off at the sunset with the light reflecting her ashy eyes.

"Ah...Cana-san." She heard Shinpachi's voice behind her. He glanced down to where her sword was. "Are you really...that ghost?"

Canarie blinked slowly. "I have done some things that I'm not proud of. Things that would be frowned upon, but it was my way of dealing with something that I have lost." She smiled weakly. "It's because of you and Tae-san what I was finally able to step away from that life. I can look away...but I can never forget that feeling though...today proved it too. I still haven't lost my edge. "She looked over her shoulder but saw Shinpachi crying. "Please don't look at me like that."

Shinpachi clenched his fingers into knuckles until they where white, trying to stop the tears. "Cana-san is Cana-san...and nothing can change that!" his voice was horsed while he tried to shout.

Canarie blinked before smiling, "Whatever you say, Shinpachi." She waved him off to let him alone to cry to himself for being the cause of getting her into this mess. Canarie looking down at her sword and reaching inside the black cord and pulled out a white piece of paper, unfolded it with care.

'Dear Canarie,

I hope that you're still being a good girl because I can't help to not be one right now. So I'm hoping that you're being extra good for both of our sakes.

I'm always around men and half the time they see me nothing but a plaything for war. Jokes on them when I come swinging my sword towards their balls. Even when all these men here I did find some decent guys. A lot of them are really no good, but their strong hearts is what's really inspiring. You'll probably fit right at home with these no-good brats born with swords in their hand.

But I need to tell you something. I met a guy that I honestly love. He may be a brat and an edgy teen who fights with his comrades over the stupidest of things, but I really want you to meet him. I'll introduce you when this war is over.

Stay safe and out of trouble. I love you.

Kurojina Kashira

"Hey, Cana-san...You found something in him too, right? Then let's...go with him." Shinpachi said.

Canarie closed her eyes and smiled, but a sudden gush of wind came out of nowhere, pulling the letter from Canarie's hand.

Canarie's eyes widen. "Ah!" She reached for it as it flew over her head.

The small letter flew in the air gently and slowly fell to the ground, right In front of Gintoki's feet. He looked down to the ground and picked it up, opening it up and reading the letter, his eyes wavering only a little. He stared at it with almost empty eyes.

"Gintoki!"

He lifted his head and saw Canarie waving towards him.

"Sorry. It got away from me. Can you give it back to me?" She said holding her hand out.

Gintoki's eyes returned. He lowered the letter and smiled lazily, and started to walk towards her.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**As I said, I've been writing fanfiction for quite a few years now and I've noticed my writing style as definitely improved thanks to it. A lot of my work in unfinished but maybe if people are interested in my stories then I'll keep posting.**

**Now, Gintama is very near and dear to my heart because of its comedy and I'm happy to write a story for this. For starters. This story is going to be a romance between (Oc) Canarie and Gintoki, and the bitter-romantic past from during the Joui war with (Oc) Kashira and her romance with Takasugi. And as you already guess, Kashira did not come back from the war. Find out what happened!**


	3. Chapter 3

**OWNERS SHOULD TAKE CARE OF THEIR PETS TILL THE END**

The morning was filled with everything but happiness and peace. Instead of the birds chirping, the morning was filled with the sound of bickering between Gintoki and his landlady, Otose where once again arguing about the rent that he hadn't paid in 5 months. Turns out that Gintoki was infamous for this.

Otose barked at him with a cigarette between her fingers. "If you don't have the money, sell your liver or your balls, you shithead!"

"Stop bitching about the rent, old hag! I fixed your TV so that should cover the rent!" Gintoki face sneered while scratching his the back of her head.

"No excuses! It's five months worth of rent! And the TV broke again anyway!"

Canarie and Shinpachi looked at the chaos unfolding while they climbed the stairs and saw Otose strangling Gintoki in a headlock.

Shinpachi sighed. "Haa...They're at it again..."

"Let's just...leave it for now." Canarie stopped at the bottom of the stairs to wait until it was over.

That was his problem anyway he really had no room to talk since he hasn't paid either her or Shinpachi. It's already been half a month since they started working here, but since a freelancer business, they don't make much of a profit. Canarie had to leave the place she's been living if because it was sucking her money away and reluctantly had to live at the Yorozuya. It's like their life hasn't changed one bit, still a poor life. Shinpachi was even starting to wonder if he and Canarie had made the right decision in following this man.

Canarie looked up to the sky, seeing the ships flying around above Edo. No matter the years to pass, it was something she still can't get used too upon seeing.

"I wonder if we'll have a client today?" She muttered and looked back, seeing Gintoki literally being thrown down the stairs at them. Canarie's eyes widen and she quickly ducked down. Gintoki sailed over her head and crashed into Shinpachi behind her.

"GYAAAH"

* * *

The Inside of the Yorozuya was rather simple and nice if it's clean, thanks to Canarie though. Since she's been living here she's been having to take care of the chores in place of rent. There were two large couches and in between was a table. At the back of the room were a desk and chair that Gintoki usually sits in, and right above his head was a sign that said 'Sugar Content', for some reason.

Shinpachi powered himself a cup of tea. "What are you gonna do. Owing money like this..."

Canarie grabbed the kettle and powered herself a cup of tea too. "You do realize that we are counting on you, right? Shinpachi's family and me."

"Y'know," Gintoki rubbed his chin and though. "Having two kidney's is very troublesome."

"What are you thinking?! You can't have ours!" Shinpachi shouted.

"Don't be selfish. Money doesn't come to people who work hard." Gintoki flipped the TV on, but there was only static. "Damn reception." he knocked on it a few times.

"You can't use yourself as an example because you hardly work." Canarie spat back. She got up and clenched her fist, slammed it down on top of the TV. It shook before the picture finally come up. "Here."

Gintoki blinked. He looked to Canarie then back to the TV a couple of times as his peanut brain tried to process what just happened. "How'd you do that?"

Canarie pointed down to where she hit it. "Smack it on the right side, not the center."

Gintoki nodded. "I gotta remember that."

The TV was on special alien attack alert. "At the moment, the creature is thought to be heading towards the Shinjuku area, If you live in that area, please make sure to evacuate quickly..."

Gintoki stood right in front of the TV. "Hey, another alien report from the terminal."

Canarie sat back on the couch. She crossed her legs and leaned against her hand. "There sure been a lot recently."

Shipachi shook his head at those. "Right now, how we're gonna life is more of a problem to us then aliens."

Just then to doorbell rang. Gintoki suddenly sprinted to the door and broke it down with a fierce kick. "I told you we don't have the money right now you rotten old hag!" His foot made contact with an unknown man right in the face. "Eh?"

The man collapsed to the floor.

"Captain!" One of the other men shouted.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!"

Canarie poked her head out the door. "Is it Otose-san?" She asked, but looked down and saw the man passed out on the floor. "What the?"

"It's my bad." Gitoki started to walk back into the house, pushing Canarie with him. "Please excuse us?"

"Wait, stop!"

Gintoki felt a barrel of a gun pushed at the back of his head. "You two are the Yorozuya, right? I'm gonna need you to come with us." One of the men ordered.

Gintoki looked at him from the corner of his eye. "No thanks. My mom told me never to follow strange people."

"Don't you need to listen to your landlady?" The man who was passed out before got up, fixing his sunglasses on his face.

Canarie's small figure peeked out from behind Gintoki. She narrowed her eyes slightly upon seeing the gun. "Are you guys from the Shogunate?"

The man's nose still dripped with blood. "We're from the immigration office. We've got a job for you Mr. Yorozuya."

* * *

The three were then transferred in a black car and drove down the highway with them in the back seat.

The man from before looked over his shoulder. "I'm Taizo Hasegawa from immigrations, a section of the Shogunate that controls the entity sites of Aliens."

"Hmm." Canarie raised her hand. "What do you want from us?"

"You're the Yorozuya, right? I heard there was a guy that would do anything for money. So, I would like you to do something for me." He obviously explained, not exactly telling them what it was.

"A job?" Gintoki asked. "I did know you guys have jobs. Seeing how the Aliens do whatever they please in this city." He said rather harshly.

"That harsh." Hasegawa smoked his cigarette. "We're doing everything we can, you know? It's because of them, Edo has advanced so far ahead. Plus, they seem to love it here, so we can't disrespect them."

Canarie huffed and rolled her eye. She leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms. The amanto. They come in with their big guns, threaten the people here, take over and is now trying to make this place their new home. All the while screwing up other people life's in the process. You can't fight back or you'll be obliterated.

"Even the Shogun is starting to get along with them. To drive them out of this world is like a dream. But all we do now is adjust and get along with them."

Gintoki leaned back and having his hand on the back of his head. "Adjust...So what do you want me to do?"

"We can't really move around flexibly. That's just how this job is. If we do anything stupid, we will lose the Shogunate's trust. Actually, the Shogun is having problems trading with the outside world. There's something so bad that it can turn this country into chaos. The price is here with us right now, but he had problems as well."

* * *

The prince that Hasegawa was referring too was a short, purple colored amanto who wore flashy clothes and had this strange antenna coming out of his forehead.

He petted a small kitten in his hand. "My pet 'Pesu' is gone. Can you catch her for me?"

The Yorozuya imminently started to walk away.

"Hey! Wait a minute!" Hasegawa called to them. He grabbed Gintoki's shoulder. "You're the Yorozuya, right? You'll do anything, right!?" He desperately asked them.

"Shut up. I should break your glasses, baldy!"

"Ok! I'll let that slide. Just take the job!" He suddenly draped his arm around Gintoki's and Canarie's shoulders. "This is bad. We borrowed a lot of things, like money, from this country."

Canarie gave the man a blank stare. "It's your own dang problem. If a country's gonna fall over a stupid pet, then let it fall. It'll probably be better off."

The stupid price cut in. "What do you mean 'stupid pet?' Pesu is part of my family."

Both Gintoki and Canarie turned their heads towards the prince. "Find it yourself, dumbass prince."

Hasegawa quickly covered both of their mouths. "Hey! Hey! He may be stupid, but he's a prince! A prince!"

"You do realize he can hear you, right?" Shinpachi bluntly stated. "If it's something that simple, you guys can solve it yourselves."

"No! It's not that simple! Because this pet is..."

Suddenly the building behind them collapsed. Something immersed from the wreckage, a large monster with tentacles and sharp teeth.

Canarie started at if with a very dead expression as the idiot Prince cheered for it and asked for one of them to catch it.

She slowly turned to Hasegawa and pointed to the monster, Pesu. "You're screwing with us, right?"

"I'm not, honestly!" Hasegawa frantically pointed to Pesu. "You see what I'm talking about now!?"

"Thanks for giving us details!"Canarie stomped her foot on the floor repeatedly and screamed at him. "Ain't this the Alien who's been causing a fuss on TV recently?! And who the hell in their right mind would keep this thing as a pet?!"

"Pesu is an unknown creature that I found on Planet Hikyo." The idiot Prince explained. "It liked me, so I took it back in my sp-!" Pesu whacked the idiot with his tentacle and sent him flying.

"It doesn't like you at all!" Shinpachi annoyingly shouted. He looked to the monster and saw it was starting to move away. "Oh no! It's heading back to town!" Shinpachi looked and saw Gintoki and Canarie standing in its way."Gin-san! Cana-san!"

The two got their weapons ready.

"Shinpachi, go get the soy sauce." Gintoki gave a lazy smile. "Canarie. How does octopus sashimi, sound for dinner?"

Canarie gripped her sword tightly. "It sounds marvelous."

The two ran to the monster but Hasegawa tripped their feet and they immediately plunged to the ground, landing in their heads. "I won't let you!" He screeched at them.

Gintoki grabbed his throbbing head. "Oww! What the hell? Canarie, is my brain leaking out?"

Canarie rubbed red chin. "What the hell are you doing!?" She roared to Hasegawa.

"No swords. The prince told us to catch it unharmed," he ordered the impossible mission.

Gintoki got up. "Unharmed? You can't do that!"

Canarie lost since lost her cool. She pointed to the monster with her eyes demented with extreme annoyance. "How in the hell do you expect us to do this then, huh!?"

"Uwaah!" Shinpachi was suddenly lifted in the air by the tentacle and started to be pulled towards its open mouth.

Canarie's eyes widen in terror. "Shinpachi?!"

Gintoki and Canarie started to run towards it to save their glasses. "Damnit!"

They were forced to skid to a halt through when the sound of a gun clicked behind them. Hasegawa held them out gunpoint and stared at them with threatening eyes, despite the coldness radiating off of Canarie's anxious body.

"Don't be stupid." Hasegawa threatened them.

Canarie slowly turned her head over her shoulder and glared with the fury of a blizzard. "You little..."

"Ok. It's obvious we can't catch it unharmed. But if we don't make some sacrifices, the stupid prince won't be happy." His look was as hard as stone and with no remorse in his sunglasses.

"You're gonna let our partner be food so the prince will be happy?" Gintoki scoffed with disgust.

Canarie slowly reached for the hilt on her sword and cracked it open a little. "I see. So you guys are already rotten."

"I told you, we have to adjust to them. Even if this way is rotten, I'm gonna save this country, my way. This is the path I chose."

"Your way, huh? It's too bad that our roads clash." She snapped her sword shut and the barrel of Hasegawa's gun was split in two before he could even see her blade. There was no glimmer of silver or any indication of a striking motion from her hand at all. Her speed was absolutely unreadable.

Gintoki and Canarie took the chance to pull away from Hasegawa and to run to the monster as Shinpachi wrestled with its jaws.

Hasegawa reached his hand out. "Stop! Just one person or the whole country! Think which is more important!"

Gintoki and Canarie dodged the tentacles that came crashing down, repeatedly trying to squish them. Those two more in total syn without falling behind one another. It was as though Gintok had seen Canarie's moves before and was able to keep up with her speed.

"How the hell should I know!? Gintoki shouted back at the top of his lungs.

Canarie jumped to the side as a tentacle slammed down beside her. She ran up it towards its mouth. "Shinpachi! Don't die yet!"

"Whether the Shogun or this country falls...I don't care. Until my body shatters...until her body breaks...we're gonna stand straight and live our own lives!"

Gintoki and Canarie leaped into the monster's mouth and seconds later the amanto monster threw up blood like a fountain and crumbled to the ground. Dead. Hasegawa stared up as the blood rained down upon him, realization overcoming him and he froze in utter defeat.

"Shit! Those bastards went crazy on it." He sighed.

The idiot prince screeched like a banshee. "Ahh! My Pesu! My cute Pesu! She's bleeding like a fountain! Hasegawa! I ordered you to catch it unharmed! How will you take responsibility for this!? This will be the country's problem! Are you listening to me!?"

Hasegawa casually lit a cigarette and watched as Shinpachi pulled Gintoki and Canarie out of the mouth of the beast. All of them covered in its blood.

"I'm gonna report this to my father, Hasegawa!"

"Shut up."

"What!?"

Hasegawa suddenly swung his fist up and uppercut the idiot prince. "I said shut the hell up, you mudskipper alien!" The Idiot prince fell over with a large bruise on its chin.

"Ah!" Gintoki grinned and walked u to him with a mocking laugh. "Is it really okay to do that?"

Hasegawa breathed out a puff of smoke. "How the hell should I know? This is samurai country. You can do whatever the hell you please."

Canarie blinked for a moment still a grin spread across her lips as she began to snicker uncontrollably. "We're definitely screwed now though." For once she had this sense of freedom and can't help to laugh at how screwed they were now.

Gintoki large hand ruffled Canarie's blood-soaked hair. "That's stupid. Someone who gives up when it counts is the one truly screwed."

Canarie's stared up at him before her lips broke out into a smile. His comment only made her laugh more. She hunched over and held her stomach while laughing until abs began to form. Gintoki looked at her from the corner of his eyes and very faintly, a small smile crept to his face.


	4. Chapter 4

**BE AWARE THAT JUMP MAGAZINE MAY COME OUT ON SATURDAY**

Gintoki's face twisted in realization and the horror of acceptance as he drove on the dirt roads of Edo. "Crap! Shounen Jump come out today! I forgot that it comes out on Saturday this week. Wanna go back or ask Canarie before she gets back today?" He slapped his forehead and asked Shinpachi who was riding behind him on the back seat.

"Who cares, and don't bother Cana-san on her day off. Let's just go home, we already bought the supplies for sukiyaki." Shinpachi deadpanned.

Gintoki rubbed the side of his face in deep thought. "Well, this is a good chance to stop reading jump comic. You're getting pretty old for Shounen jump, man... Nah, a man will act like a kid for as long as he lives..." He wasn't as subtle as he thought he was.

"Excuse me, keep embarrassing comments to yourself."

Suddenly, a young 14 year old looking girl dressed in traditional Chinese clothing ran out in the middle of the street right in front of Gintoki's scooter.

Gintoki eyes widen. "Watch out!" He shouted.

He was unable to stop and crashed right into her, driving the scooter and themselves right off the road and got a mouth full of dirt at the same time. Shinpachi looked over at the motionless girl who laid on the road. His mouth was gaped open in horror at the sudden nightmare filled reality. They prayed that this wasn't actually happening. Please let this be a dream. This wasn't a supposed to be series about drama. Damn it!

Gintoki let out a girly shriek. "Gyaa! I ran her over!"

"What're you gonna do!? It's because you weren't paying attention..." Shinpachi's hands shook and his eyesight was starting to blur

Gintoki stuck his head into a vending machine while his whole body shook with utter panic and denial. "D-D-Don't panic! Just find a t-t-t-time machine."

"You're the one who needs to calm down!" Shinpachi's panic was nothing compared to Gintoki's.

"It would be okay, you know." Gintoki tried to think positive as they approached the body of the young girl. "Wake-up TV's astrology segment said I'd be lucky this weekend." He kneeled down. "I'm sure she's miraculously unharmed." He wished hopefully. "Hey, young lady..." he pulled her body back only slightly but saw a puddle of blood below her.

* * *

"Freakin' Wake-up TV!" Gintoki drove like a bat out of hell with the young girl attached to the back of the scooter. "Liars! I'm never gonna watch your stupid show again. Damn it!" he cursed the show. "But the weather girl is super cute. Hey, how's she?"

Shinpachi and the young girl were literally tied together. Shinpachi looked over his shoulder grimly. "Not even twitching."

"Crap! Should we take her to a doctor?! I don't wanna get in trouble though! Should we go to Canarie!? She should know something, right? She's a former assassin, right? She should know something, right! " He screamed like a preteen girl with a shrill voice. Swore tears were forming in his eyes too.

Shinpachi rolled his eyes. He looked over as a black car drove up beside them. They rolled down their windows for some reason when they suddenly pointed a gun out to them.

"What!?"

Gintoki quickly drove in front of them, but the shouts were fired too quickly. Shinpachi covered his head but looked when he felt nothing. He saw that the girl regained consciousness and opened her purple umbrella and appeared to have blocked the bullets that would have hit them. The china girl closed her umbrella and pointed the end to the car. It then started to fire out bullets that punctured the car, making it spin out of control and crash into a nearby tree. The china girl blew on the gun smoke that came from the barrel of her umbrella as Shinpachi stared in utter disbelief.

* * *

Canarie pulled her face into the palm of her hand and gave the biggest sigh known to man. She felt like she's been doing that more often now. It was one thing after another with this place. Even on her off days, she's still pulled into this sort of carp. Nevertheless, Canarie still checked the china girl, actually possessing some sort of basic medical knowledge to their greatest relief.

So there the four of them stood, in dark alleyway, out of sight from the incoming police cars. Man, it felt like they were criminals with this setup. All that left for this to be a mobster move was for the Yakuza to chase after them for some damn reason. G

"Are you guys stupid? I'm not gonna die just from getting hit by a scooter!" The china girl said.

Canarie got a better look at her shoulder and saw what looked to be a bullet wound. It healed strangely fast though. She narrowed her eyes in thought, realizing something about the girl's appearance. Cute was one word for her. She was an inch taller then Canarie with transparent skin, big and lively blue eyes and orange hair held together with two ornaments on both sides of her head. She wore a red china styled dress with black boots too.

Canarie crossed her arms and took a step back. "She's just fine. The only real injury was a bullet wound from those guys, but that's already closed up." She said, but her voice seemed to run off at the end.

"What, did she eat glue with her meals or something?" Gintoki deadpanned, already exhausted with everything that happened in under an hour. "Whatever. You seem alright, so we'll be on our way. Thanks for the help Canarie. Get well soon!" he said to the girl and tried to make an escape on the scooter but it went nowhere. "Huh? Shinpachi, did you put on some weight?" They tried to drive off but the scooter just wouldn't move despite the tires spinning.

The china girl held the scooter in one place with a single hand. That's some strength. "How can a grown-up abandon a girl who's being hunted by Yakuza?"

"Because I'm still a boy at heart. Besides, in this country, we don't call people who can stop a scooter with one hand 'girls'. We call them mountain gorillas."

Canarie came up beside the halted scooter as it still tried to make its great escape. "Gintoki. Can you try to be an adult for a second here? Let's just take a step back and try to figure this out before we're shot at again." As those words left her mouth a group of Yakuza came around the corner. Canarie's eyes widen "Oh?"

The Yakuza spotted them. "Hey! There they are! After them!" They shouted.

"Crap! We got to go!" Canarie quickly pulled Gintoki and Shinpachi off the scooter and shove them in the opposite direction and started to run away.

"Hold on! Who are they!?" Shinpachi shouted. "Demented Yakuza!?"

"'Fermented'" The china girl questioned wrongly.

Canarie groaned loudly. "Ha-ah! I'm so sick of Yakuza! I always, always hated running into them." She spun around and kicked a garbage can that made the Yakuza trip over when they cut around the corner.

"Hey!" Gintoki looked to the china girl as she continued to run down the streets. "Who are you!? What did you do with your super strength?"

"I..." The china girl looked to the ground grimly. "I came here from a distant planet. I heard that I could make money if I came to Edo. My family is really poor. Furikake seasoning on rice, three meals a day. I'd like to at least be able to eat raw egg and sow sauce on rice three meals a day."

"That's not much better." Shinpachi and Canarie eyed her.

"That's when...They made me an offer... and I jumped right on it!"

"Why!? Shouldn't you eat three different meals a day?

They cleared a corner with the Yakuza in hot pursuit.

"I'm strong compared to earthlings. I took their offer, and I ate sake chazuke every day. I was so happy."

The Yakuza ran past them as they hit behind a Soba shop sign.

"But lately, my jobs went up the escalator."

"You mean 'escalated'." Shinpachi corrected her.

"Finally they told me to get someone's silver balls."

"It's just 'balls'."

The Yakuza ran past a soba shop but the Yorozuya was long since gone from their line of sight, but only for them to peek their heads out from around the shop signs and tanuki statue.

The china girl stood up from her spot of hiding. "I can't take it anymore. Edo is a very scary place. I wanna go home." The girl pleated sadly.

"Edo is scary?" Canarie scoffed and came out from behind the tanuki statue.

"Boy, are you dumb." Gintoki and Canarie walked out from behind the statue. "In this country, you can't trust guys with perms and girl in red. You got yourself in that world. You need to get yourself out."

Canarie's expression seemed too distant itself. "If you think Edo is scary then you got another thing coming." Her voice was cold. "If your to worried about being scared then stay home.

Gintoki and Canarie then started to walk away from them with Shinpachi calling out for them.

* * *

Canarie walked beside Gintoki down the road. She crossed her arms, but the china girls words played out in her head. She wondered why her words irritated her so much, but thinking about it, it probably was because she was born and raised here. This trashy, scum-ridden place...was her home and having someone insult it made her blood boil a bit. In her eyes, Edo wasn't scary because she has gotten so used to this environment. It's laughable really, being protective over a place like this. Still, Kashira and her ran wild in these streets so it was basically their backyard, a very big backyard.

Gintoki stuck his arm into his kimono. "It's out of character for you to get upset over something like that." He noticed the irritation on her face

"Out of character? You must be joking. It doesn't matter if people are born and raised here. Despite who you are. Yakuza. Samurai..." Canarie's pace slowed down. She looked to the floor. "Fear is...all the same when you meet a ghost off the streets. If your scared of Edo of all places, then you should stay in your room." Canarie's voice couldn't have sounded anymore depressing.

Gintoki could see a different look in her eyes. It was something he hasn't seen before...no, he wasn't sure if this was an 'emotion' at all really. Her eyes resembled a shell that had nothing in them. Not even a glint of emotion. There was no such humanity in those ashy eyes of hers, but it's probably what she would look like after the assassination has already happened, as she stared down at the body she has just snuffed out. Like a candle in the wind.

Gintoki took his hand and slapped the back of her head. Canarie stumbled forward and yelped out in shock.

"What the hell was that for?" She cried out, rubbing her sore head.

"Just felt like it-" Canarie punched him in the gut. Hard. Like, really hard. Gintoki hunched over the ground, holding his stomach. "I..." His voice was a bit too high pitched. "Was just thinking you fit the halfhearted straight-man role better than an assassin one."

Canarie flinched at his words and stood still for a moment, trying to process what he just said. He was just trying to cheer her up. In a bit of a cruel way, but still. Canarie clicked her tongue but smiled. She kneeled down and started to rub his back. Gintoki saw her smile for the corner of his eyes, that very warm smile he was seen before.

"Your way of cheering people up is a bit twisted...but thank you, Gintoki." Once again, her eyes seemed to have returned to normal, as her smile was proof of that.

* * *

Desperate is what Gintoki was right now. Canarie waited at a Dango shop and watched Gintoki as he shuffled around like a zombie in search for brains, but in this situation it was Jump. He walked from one store to another asking every clerk if they had Jump, but to no avail, they didn't.

Canarie wiggled the stick in between her teeth and stared at him with a cup of tea in her other hand. She sighed and dropped the stick on her plate and brought the tea to her mouth.

"Are you guys stupid!?" A man on the other booth cross from her suddenly shouted to his subordinates. "You can't even capture one little girl?! And you stupid asses call yourself Yakuza!?"

Canarie stopped the cup of tea inching closer to her lips and gave the man a side glance from over her shoulder. She saw that they were a group of Yakuza with a punch perm hairstyle. Man, that looked stupid. This series really did turn into a mobster movie.

So these were the guys chasing after the china girl, Canarie thought. She then knew exactly who these guys were, having to have run into them on her previous job a few times. They weren't exactly Yakuza, more like wannabee ones. They could never get the upper hand on her, but they were still a pain in the ass. She knew the boss as well. His name was Inoue. He was a good-for-nothing, but he still had quite a few members, enough eyes and ears to cover Kabuki-Chou at least. It would defiantly make it hard for the china girl to run away.

"But bro, She's from the Yato clan! We can't do anything about it..."

"Are you stupid!?" Inoue socked his subordinate in the face. He had to have his other crew to hold him back. "That's exactly why you should have gotten them! Our branch clan could rise to the top if we capture that monster of a girl, you know that?! Their clan is already beginning to fall apart. Do you understand how much she'd be worth if we capture her? If she doesn't come back to our hands, I don't care anymore. Kill her."

His words left a harsh feeling in Canarie's chest. She set her cup down on her plate with a soft clank. What to do to, She thought. She could end this farce now and put this whole thing behind her, but...what would the china girl learn from this?

Canarie looked back to where she last saw Gintoki but saw that he staggered a bit too far away. Glancing back to the guys, she shook her head and sighed. "It'll work out somehow." She said to herself while gathering her things, walking after Gintoki.

The trash can by the station shook and the lid popped open a bit for Shinpachi and the china girl to look around.

"We somehow managed to get here. Any punch perm guys nearby?"

"Nope, all clear."

Shinpachi looked to the station. "If you take the train from here, you'll reach the Terminal in no time. You can go back home. But speaking of those two...I didn't think they would really leave, especially Cana-san."

"I don't mind. Everyone is Edo is like that. No personal feeling toward strangers. That's an ideal lifestyle, right? People like you who care about others are stupid." The china girl smiled. "But I like that stupid way. I don't like you though."

Shinpachi's eye twitched. "Huh? I thought I heard you make a rude comment..."

The china girl tried to get up. "I hate people with glasses." She bluntly said.

"Hey, your character changed! What the hell!? I did so much for you! I can't put up with this anymore!" Shinpachi frustratingly yelled.

The china girl tried to get out, but her body was stuck in place. "Eh? I'm stuck."

Shinpachi blinked. "Eh? Huh?" He then tried to move out but his body didn't move an inch. They have liked super glued inside. "You're kidding! Even I'm...Crap! I'm gonna cry..." He panicked, even more, when he heard the sound of the train about to leave. "Who cares, just roll!"

Shinpachi knocked over the trash can and they began to roll towards the open train door, but a foot slammed down on the can, stopping them from getting to the train.

"Hey, hey, that's a no-no." The voice was no one other than Inoue, surrounded by his punched perm men. "Rolling into a train is dangerous." he grinned down to the helpless kids. "Too bad, Kagura, You were so close to getting away."

Kagura looked and saw him. "Inoue...!"

"It's sad to see you leave without saying anything. We treated you so well. Weren't you in financial trouble? Is that okay with you? You're going to go back to eating rice with Hurikake again."

"I'm tired of getting money from hurting people! Nothing I eat tastes good anymore! Working hard and eating rice with Hurikake is still better than this!" Kagura shouted back.

Inoue keeled down. "What a thing to say for a clan that only knows how to fight. Isn't that right, Yato clan member?"

"Yato clan?" Shinpachi questioned the name.

"Well, well. You were helping this girl without even knowing about her? I'm sure you've heard the name before, right? The best and worst clan, 'Yato'? The Yato do not look much different from regular humans, but they possess great fighting abilities. They've destroyed countless stars. They're a battling clan with war as their priority. It seems that you were hiding this. But that transparent-like color of your skin and that umbrella are dead proof. The Yato clan hated the daylight, and it was said they never let go of their umbrellas. With your true instincts acting up inside you, you seem to enjoy the fighting. Your true instincts are craving blood, Kagura."

"That's not true!" Kagura shot back, but before she could get enough word out, Inoue kicked the can into the railroad tracks.

"You're worthless if you can't fight! Goodbye!" he waved.

Shinpachi managed to look up in front of him he felt the tracks shake as a train speeding down the railing. "You kidding me! Bad timing only happens like this in manga!" He screamed out.

At that moment, a scooter came in view, running almost at the same speed as the train beside it. Shinpachi and Kagura's eyes widen when they saw them. Gintoki and Canarie.

"Gin-san! Cana-san!"

Gintoki held up his wooden sword and handed it to Canarie. "Don't miss!"

Canarie gripped the wooden sword tightly. "Don't run them over." She held it like a bat. "Hold on tight!"

Shinpachi went white when he realized what was about to happen. "Wait! Cana-san!"

Canarie twisted her body slightly and pulled the sword all the way back and waited. She clenched her teeth and swung the sword forwards with all her might and slammed it into the trash can, throwing them off the tracks, but also into the air. The trash can fell through a roof and right on top of Inoue's men.

Kagura emerged from the dust with her umbrella in her hand while Canarie jumped off the tracks and glared at Inoue in front of her.

"I like to fight. That's the Yato's instincts...but I don't give into it. However, from now on. I'll fight with my Yato blood." Kagura held her umbrella up. "I'm gonna fight to change."

Inoue looked between the impending doom of the Yato and the armed samurai. "You idiot! Kick their ass!" He shouted to his men but saw that they already ran away. "Huh?"

"Inoue!"

"Oi!"

The voices of the two girls brought him back. He turned around and saw them jumping above his head with their weapons in the air. Raised and ready to smack him to kingdom-come.

Canarie's voice howled like an animal with demented, angry eyes. "If you're not prepared to get scared out of your wits... Then you shouldn't be here in Edo in the first place!"

WHAM!

* * *

Shinpachi shook his head. "If you were gonna help us out, then you should have come with us in the first place." He looked to Gintoki as he finally found his Jump and was now proudly reading it by the train station. "I don't get it...are you a shy boy?"

Gintoki hunched over. "No, actually I decided to help along the way while I went to buy Jump. Happy you didn't die?"

Shinpachi angerly looked at him. "Our life's don't cost a mere 220 yen." He shook Gintoki's reason off since he knew he was never gonna get one, but Canarie on the other hand. "What about you Cana-san? What made you change your mind?"

Canarie stretched her legs out and laid her hands over her stomach. She slouched in her seat as she watched Kagura as she shaved the punch perm off an unconscious Inoue. "I don't really know myself." She mumbled.

That was a lie. She knew the exact reason. Kagura is still a child to be in that kind of work. Canarie though, was around her age when she began her assassination career. It took a toll on her psychologically, and she could see that same feeling in Kagura's eyes. She guesses that she wanted Kagura to stay a kid for a bit longer since she wasn't able to herself.

The sound of the squeaking train rolled into the station and the doors opened.

"Oh, the train came! Hurry up and leave, and don't come back, lady!" Gintoki said.

Kagura looked back to them. "Yeah. I wanna leave, but...come to think about it, I don't have enough money to go back home. That's why I want to stay here a little more till I save up some money. So, let me work at your place." She more so demanded.

Canarie straightened up and leaned against the palm of her hand. "I don't have a problem. Why not." She said calmly.

Gintoki ripped his jump in half though. "You're kidding! Why should I let a violent little girl..."

Kagura punched the wall behind them, creaking it all the way up to the ceiling. "Did you said something?"

"...Nothing."

Canarie looked to the ceiling then back to them, just having the feeling that this place was gonna get a bit more lively.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**How are you liking this story so far? I'm trying to keep the serious parts serious and the funny parts funny. It's honestly fun to change my writing style a bit so the story will flow better. Let me know if you're enjoying it! **

**Oh, and by the way, this story won't cover all of the chapters of Gintama. This is only gonna cover chapter 1-97 before I switch to the second installment of the Kabuki-cho ghost stories.**


	5. Chapter 5

**ONE THAT LOOKS GOOD AT FIRST SIGHT IS NOT GOOD AT ALL**

Kagura held up her empty rice bowl with her cheeks still stuffed with food. "Can I have another?"

Otose started down at the girl in disbelief. "How many bowls have you eaten already? This isn't a damn restaurant." Her eye twitched for the last time. "This is a snack bar! It's a place for booze and pleasure! It's a snack bar for men! If you want more food, go to a family restaurant and order a kids meal or something!" She snapped her head over to Gintoki who sat in the corner of the bar. "Gintoki! Who the hell is this girl!? She ate five bowls already!"

Shinpachi had bags under his eyes. "Five bowls...that's just the beginning..." His said in a weak voice.

"We only have salt and sugar left at home..." Gintoki said with a weak looking appearance.

Otose looked over to Canarie who sat on the other side of the bar stool. "Oi, Canarie. Why do they look so worn out?"

Canarie was the only one whose appearance didn't look deprived of life. She has only one rice bowl in her hand, thank God. Canarie only lifted her finger and pointed back to Kagura. "See for yourself."

Kagura sat on the table with the whole rice cooker up to her mouth and started to eat the rest of it.

"What the! You're still eating!? Somebody stop her!"

* * *

After getting Kagura settled with juice for now. The rest of the gang sat at the booth.

"I see. So that girl left her country and come here to earn money." Otose finally understood. "So you decided to let her stay until she had enough to pay for her ticket back home." She looked dead at Gintoki. "You really are stupid. You can't even pay your own rent. What are you gonna do with that eating machine? I'm not lowering the rent."

"Don't get me wrong," Gintoki spoke up. "Canarie made the decision." He glanced at her but quickly looked away when he felt her threatening glare on him. "I didn't want to live with that pig in the first place..." A glass was thrown at him from across the room. It shattered and his brain probably did too when his head hit the table. Dead

Kagura held her hand at like she threw the glass. 'What are you guys talking about?"

"Nothing..." Shinpachi said.

Canarie glanced down to Gintoki. "You alright?" She asked.

Gintoki grabbed his head and slowly sat up. "Does it look like I'm alright to you?" He was suddenly offered a napkin by an unknown woman.

"You should use this for your head." She said. Bluntly put, she was an unattractive woman with a black bob-cut with big lips and nose and a green kimono. The most off-putting thing about this woman was her real cat ears.

Canarie leaned against her hand and eyed the woman's cat ears. It was obvious she was an amanto.

"Huh? I don't remember seeing you around here. Are you new?" Ginoki said.

"Yes. I just started this week. My name is Catherine." She introduced herself rather politely.

"Catherine come to work here for money also. To go back to her country." Otose explained.

"Wow. She's not like someone who came here just to raid my fridge." Gintoki bluntly said, having a glassed smashed against him again.

"What are you guys talking about?"

"Nothing..."

The door to the shop slid open and two men walked in. One of them showed the crew his police badge. "Excuse me. We're from the police station. Would you cooperate with us in an investigation."

Gintoki glanced over to Canarie and saw her casually and slowly sinking under the table out of sight, being prepared for the worst since her last job was illegal, considered murder, and she does, in fact, have a warrant out for her arrest...in all honesty.

"Did something happen?" Otose asked, glancing at Canarie as well.

"Yes. there has been a string of cases of stores being robbed in this area. It turns out that the culprit is an amanto that came into this country illegally. I head a lot of them work here. Do you guys know anything about this."

Canarie got back up off the floor and sat at the table like a normal person, acting like she wasn't hiding under the table a few seconds ago at all. She felt better knowing that it wasn't her that they were trying to find, for now at least.

Gintoki pointed their friendly alien, Kagura. "Yes, I know that culprit is this person right here." Kagura grabbed his finger and broke it with little effort. Gintoki quickly grabbed his hand and looked down at his finger bent the wrong way. "What the hell did you do!?" He shrieked.

Kagura crossed her arms. "I don't like stupid jokes."

"You wanted to go back home right!? Don't you want to get sent back there!?"

"I don't want to go back with dishonor. If I have to, I'll hang onto the ship and go back. It worked when I came here, so I'm sure it'll turn out okay."

She really was here illegally.

Canarie shook her hand quickly. "Please don't do that again."

The police started down at them. "Well, I guess there's nothing here.

"Yes." Otose nodded. "please leave now. I would never hire a person like that..." She turned her head when the sound a scooter was being turned on.

Catherine drove by the opening and gave them a wave. "Farewell, stupid lady!" She rode on Gintoki's scooter with Canarie's sword, Kagura's umbrella and had the snack shop's cash register all tied to the back.

Otose ran to the door and saw Catherine drive off with all their stuff. "Catherine! I never thought she would do such a thing..."

"Otose-san! The cash resister's gone!" Shinpachi realized where it should have been is now empty.

Canarie, Gintoki, and Kagura walked outside and looked around for these belongings that were nowhere in sight.

"Hey, my scooter's gone." Gintoki found nothing.

"My Umbrella too." Kagura followed

Slowly, they saw Catherine drive away with all their things on the back.

Canarie could only blink her eyes a few time as she saw her sword tied to the back of the scooter as Catherine was driving away on. Canarie reached her hand out.

Her sword...

Kashira's last letter to her...

It's gone...

Her dead sister's...

Letter...

"That's..." Canarie's hands began to shake before it was like something snapped inside her head. "THAT FUGLY BITCH!" She burst out loudly, even causing Shinpachi to jump from her sudden outburst

"THAT BUTT UGLY ALEN!"

"WE'VE BEEN HAD!"

Those other two idiots soon joined in on the tirade. The reality, slowly, but finally sunk in for them. They screaming out angrily as all three of them shuffled into the police's car with Shinpachi right behind them. They drove off like a made man with Kagura at the wheel, for some reason. The protests from the police soon became distant as she drove after the little thief. Kagura kept her foot hard on the gas as they tried to catch the thief Catherine. Ignoring the speed limit completely.

"Hey!" Shinpachi screamed at them from the back seat. "Calm down you guys! It's not our job to do this. It's only a scooter, an umbrella, and a sword."

"Shinpachi," Gintoki spoke up. "I don't care about the bike right now. Actually, I forgot to take out the video I borrowed from the store yesterday. If I don't get it back, my late fees will go through the roof." He said like that was the most serious matter at hand.

"What's wrong with your thought process!?"

"I don't care about the sword..."

Shinpachi looked back to Canarie when she spoke. "Cana-san..." he jumped when he saw her eyes were bloodshot and crazed like a person who been off their meds for quite a bit of time. "C-Cana-san!?"

"That sword...had my sister's last letter in it. I don't care about the sword, just that letter!" She screamed, repeatedly slapped the back of the passenger's seat. Shinpachi couldn't help think that she was totally losing it.

Shinpachi could not even hope to talk to Canarie in the state of mind she is right now. She then turned his attention to the driver. "Kagura-chan! Do you even have a license!? You're driving without inhibition!"

"You don't need a license to hit people with your car." She shouted, not helping the crazy going in this car at the moment.

"You plan to hit her!?"

"Be careful. The video might break." Gintoki quickly cut in.

"Get your mind off that video!"

Catherine looked over her shoulder and saw that the police car was almost upon her. She made a sharp turn into a tight ally.

"Don't let her get away!" Canarie shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Hocahaaah!" Kagura made the sharpest turn known to man down the alleyway. She scrapped the sides of the police car, and also took off the wooden panels of the houses between them.

"We're doing a worse thing then Catherine!"

The car sped up right at the scooters tail with Kagura shouting at the top of her lungs. "Die, Catherine!" Catherine made her final turn and the police car ran off the road, into the lake that they didn't see till just now. The car hovered there for the longest time like a freaking cartoon.

"Eh?" The gang inside blinked, before they descended into the water below them.

Catherine looked down at the police car as it laid with its back-in up in the air, sticking out of the water.

"Hold it right there, Catherine!" Catherine jumped when she heard the old sounding voice. She looked back up and saw Otose standing on the other side of the bridge, blocking her way to victory. "It's too bad, I didn't really hate you either. But I guess that was your acting. What you said about working for your family. Was that a lie too?" Otose asked, her voice not mad. She was just asking questions.

"Otose-san, you are a fool." Catherine harshly said to her. "It's nice to take care of people. But don't overdo it. You shouldn't help people like me."

Otose gave a bit of a smile as she brought out a cigarette. "I can't change this quality of mine. But because of it, I've met some interesting people. For example, I know for a fact... that this ashy eyed brat was in a worse place then you, being a nothing more than a ghost off the streets after losing her one and only family member. And another, I met this man once. Both of them I met on a winter day."

* * *

_The first encounter Otose had with this ashy eyed girl was in a graveyard, after a snowfall where the ground was a pure and untouched white. __Otose had her offerings in her hand like she would every other time she would come out here. _

_The silence was cut off by a scream of pain echoing throughout the sea of concrete. Otose laid to witness the murder of a man right in front of her husbands grave. The fresh and warm blood covering and ruining the untouched white, and the shadow of a young girl hovered over the body. __She was petite with a sword in her hand and half her face covered by a black scarf. The only thing visible was her ash colored eye like a dying ember, still very slight burning in her pupils._

_ The ghost and Otose made eye contact, but the most unexpected thing happened. _

_ "I'm sorry. Is this your husbands grave?" The ghost asked in a dry and worn out voice. "I'll move the body and leave right now. I'm sorry once again." As she promised, the ghost picked the body up and began to drag it away leaving like a white haze. She was a polite ghost that hasn't lost her humanity just yet, embers _were_ still in her eyes. _

* * *

Otose actually laughed a bit. "I never thought that I would meet the Kabuki-Chou Ghost right in front of my husbands grave, and she would be polite enough to move the body and leave."

* * *

_Otose went to her husband's grave in the middle of a harsh snowfall. She would put her offerings down as usual and was about to leave when suddenly...the tombstone started to talk to her._

_"Hey, old lady."_

_No, it wasn't a tombstone. It was a man sitting behind it. From what she could see. He was beaten up with black and purple bruises all over him and had unruly silver hair._

_"Are those Maju? Can I have them? I'm about to die from starvation."_

_"These are my husband's Manju, You should ask him." __After she said that, he ate them right away, without even asking him. __"So, what did my husband say?"_

* * *

Otose smiled without a care. "Can you guess what he said?" She spoke as Catherine revs up the scooter right in front of Otose. "He said, 'Why would a dead person talk?' So he told me he made a promise with my husband."

Catherine suddenly started to speed up towards Otose as she stood her ground.

"'I won't forget this favor. This old lady probably doesn't have much time left. For now on...I'll protect her for you."

Two blurry figures jumped up from out from the pound. One had their hand outstretched towards Catherine, while the other raised his wooden sword over his head.

* * *

Catherine's hands were now handcuffed and she had a large welt on top of her head and a small handprint on the side of her cheek, bright red.

Gintoki, Canarie, and Otose all laid back against the bridge railing. Canarie and Gintoki faced away from the group.

"Nice way to show her gratitude to you for giving her a job." Gintoki jokes. "People who can't keep their obligations are simply hideous, granny."

"Gintoki, you have no room to run your mouth for someone who doesn't pay rent." Canarie blurted out. She shook her head like a dog to try and get rid of the water in her hair.

Gintoki raised a hand and blocked the water. "Humans are all kind of hideous, in a way."

"Can't argue with that." Canarie nodded

The cigarette smoke hovered around Otose. "What nonsense are you talking?" She gave those two a look but kinda smiled.

The police came up to them. "Thank you for cooperating with our investigation," he said and started to drag Catherine away.

Otose turned to her. "You turned out to be quite the stray cat. Cats are animals that claw at things, though."

Catherine flinched.

Gintoki and Canarie noticed. "Hit the nail on the head."

"It's too late for you to change now. But if you're down and out and need a meal in the future, come by the back of the shop. I'll let you have some leftovers." She said kindly to the stray cat.

Tears began to fall from Catherine's eyes. She looked away. "Otose-san, you're a fool." They began to load her up in the back of the car. "However..." They drove off not a second later.

Gintoki eyed Otose. "It's the first time I've seen you not get angry when someone calls you a fool."

"I have my moments. Since you did a favor today. I'll let you have this month's rent for free."

Their eyes widen when the words reached their ears. Gintoki and Canarie snapped their heads towards their landlady.

"Seriously!?"

"Thanks, Granny! I'll make sure to pay the month after next."

Otose was taken back. "Heck. I'll write off all the late rent you owe me. And the month after next to boot." Otose could smile seeing their faces lit up with glee. Gintoki and Canarie looked between each other, their mouth gaped open and grinning like children.

It was still funny thinking about it. Having to have met both of them in front of her husbands grave, and to have both of them standing next to each other. They laughed and jumped with excitement like they have known each other for years when it's barely been a month. Gintoki and Canarie...were very similar, and it was probably fate, that they were able to stand next to each other today.


	6. Chapter 6

**MAKE FRIENDS THAT WILL CALL EACH OTHER BY NICKNAMES FOREVER**

There was this unnecessary amount of tension in the air of this fine morning that followed in the Sakata household. Gintoki started down at his employees with tense eyes, but they paid no mind to him. Shinpachi held a hot cup of tea in his hands, Kagura read the newspaper, and Canarie cleaned the office as usual.

"The massive amount of chocolate I had saved up has disappeared. One of you, hurry up and admit it, I'll only kill you 3rd of the way." Gintoki threat fell on deaf ears.

"3rd of the way is already dead." Shinpachi and Canarie commented in a monotone voice.

Kagura read the newspaper out loud. "Second assassination attempt on the Embassy. Multiple terrorist bombing attacks continue..." Blood slowly started to drip from her nose. "What a dangerous world. I'm scared. Mommy. Poppy."

Gintoki grabbed the front of Kagura's face. "You're the scary one, getting a nose-bleed and acting all happy. Was my chocolate good?"

"A nosebleed from eating chocolate? Never!" She denied.

"Stop lying! I can smell it from your nosebleed!"

"Don't be stupid. I just picked my nose too hard."

"A girl your age doesn't go around picking her nose!" Gintoki rant and raved.

The fight was suddenly shut down by the sound of a loud crash coming from outside. Probably from the snack place below.

Gintoki walked to the door and slid it open. "What's going on?"

Canarie walked over to the edge and looked down to the snack shop. "We got an accident." She announced.

It appears that a scooter ran right into the shop and crashed. The driver laid on the ground in the fetal position.

* * *

"You!" Otose sat on top of the poor man and shook him violently. "Damnit! What did you do to my shop! You better be prepared to die!" She shouted angrily and pointed to the broken front door of her shop.

The poor man held his hands up in defense. "I...I'm sorry. I didn't get much sleep last night."

Otose held her fist up. "Then I'll make you sleep forever!"

Shinpachi quickly ran to them and put a stop her abuse and probably attempted murder. "Otose-san! He's an injured man!" Shinpachi quickly looked over the man's injuries. "This is bad. Kagura-chan, call an ambulance."

Kagura cupped her hands around her mouth. "AMBULANCE!" She screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Don't shout for the ambulance," Gintoki said.

Canarie looked to what fell around the man's scooter. She picked up an envelope and saw many more scattered around. "You're a postman? You're envelope's are all over the place."

"This..." The man said with a weak voice. Gintoki and Canarie turned around and saw the man hand them a package. "Take this... and deliver it for me...please. It seems like an important delivery, and if it doesn't get delivered, I might get fired. Please take-" He passed out on the spot.

"Hey!" Gintoki called to the guy. He looked down at the package in his hand and gave his friends a shifty look.

* * *

The Yorozuya came to the place that the address said to go. It was a fancy looking building with a large wall all the way around it with a guarded gate, and a random monk sitting against the wall with his wide-brimmed hat covering his face.

"This is the place, right?" Gintoki asked.

Kagura looked at the address. "Yup."

"What the..." Canarie spoke in a baffled voice. "This is the embassy for the Inu planet. I've snuck, err...been in here a couple of times in the past."

"Inu?" Shinpachi looked to Canarie. "You mean the first amanto's who came to earth?"

She nodded her head. "Yup. They're the ballsy one's who used a cannon to blow up Edo castle and took over." They could see a bothered look in her eyes. "This is not a good place to be. I've seen them in action myself. They are not a good bunch to get on their bad side." She voice was a little wary.

"Hey!" A gruff voice came from behind. They turned around and saw an intimidating dog faced amanto that hovered over them. "What the hell are you guys doing here? You wanna get eaten?" He threatened them right off the bat, obviously not friendly. It made the Yorozuya want to leave even more.

"Er..." Shinpachi held his hand out carefully. "No, we just came here to deliver a package."

"Oi, Kagura, hurry up and give..." Gintoki was about to say but he saw Kagura kneeling down and was gesturing the amanto like he was a puppy.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Come here doggy, I'll give you a snack." She said.

Gintoki smacked her on the back of the head.

Canarie grabbed the package. She just wanted to get the hell out of here at this point. "Anyway, here." She tried to hand it to him

"I didn't hear about anything. Security has been tight lately, because of the terrorist bombing attacks, so go home." The amanto harshly said to them.

Canarie raised her brow. "What do you want us to do with this then?"

"I don't care, just go." He slapped it out of her hand.

The package blew over the barred gate and as soon as it hit the ground it erupted in a large explosion, blowing the gates wide open. What. The. Hell? Did that really just happen? No. Yes? What kind of manga was this again?

The Yorozuya stared in silence for a good five seconds before Gintoki spoke. "I don't know what happened but, I know what we should do. Run!"

The Yorozuya took off in a sprint as fast as they can but Shinpachi's hand was caught by the amanto when he tried to escape. Shinpachi then proceded to grab Canarie's hand. Canarie grabbed Gintoki's. Gintoki then grabbed Kagura's. They were stuck now by their own stupidity of not want to be the person that has to be sacrificed.

Canarie tried to pull away. "What are you doing, Shinpachi! Let go!"

"No! I don't want to go alone!" He cried out.

"Canarie! What the hell!" Gintoki tried to get out of Canarie's iron grip that was going into overdrive.

"If I'm being dragged down, then I'm taking you down with me!" The former assassin shouted.

"Don't mind me, you three go without me!" Kagura grinned her teeth and tried to push on.

"Hell, no!"

Shinpachi looked back over his shoulder and saw a group of amanto run out of the embassy towards them. "Waah! Lot of doggies!" He screamed.

The monk sighed and slowly got off the ground. "You cause so much trouble for me." He got up in a flash and jumped on the back of an amanto and jumped from one to another till he took out the one holding Shinpachi's hand. The monk raised his hat and showed a handsome youth around Gintoki's age with long hair. "We're running, Gintoki."

Gintoki's eyes widen when he saw him. "You're...Zura!? Zura Kotaro!?"

The man suddenly upper punched Gintoki. "It's not Zura! It's Katsura!"

Gintoki fell back and held his jaw. "You didn't have to upper punch me just after having a reunion!"

"I told you a thousand times not to call me by that name!"

They bickered back and forth like they weren't friends in the slightest with just Shinpachi, Canarie, and Kagura staring blankly at them.

"Why are you here in the first place...?" Gintoki asked, but he looked behind himself and saw that the angry amanto were almost upon them.

"We'll take later, Gintoki! Let's go!"

The five of them took off in a mad dash away from the embassy and the crowd of amanto, but unknown to them, they had a pair of specific eyes on them. Watching from afar.

* * *

"And continued, a terrorist attack at the Inu Planet Embassy. No one died in the accident, but...oh, just in! Security caught the group who appears to be responsible for the attack."

Right on the TV was the most perfect, clearest picture of the Yorozuya staring dumbfounded on the screen in the midst of the explosion.

Canarie held her head in her hands. "Ah~ Why did they capture such a clear picture of our faces?"

"They got us on TV really good, right Cana-san?" Shinpachi looked pale in the face like all the color just vanished. "My sister's gonna kill me!"

Kagura stared at the TV. As expected, she wasn't worried at all. "I'm on TV. Gotta call my family!"

Canarie shook her head. "Never in all my life have they gotten a clear picture of me, but now..." She gave a sigh in defeat and looked over to Gintoki was just laying down on his side. "Hey, You know that Katsura guy, right? Who is he?" She asked, just wanting to get her mind off the TV.

"Umm...A terrorist." He said bluntly.

Canarie would rather go back listening to the TV now.

The door slid open and the man, Katsura walked in. "That's a bad way of putting it. Defeating the amanto that pollute our country. And rebuilding the samurai country." he didn't walk in alone. He was followed by a group of men, all carrying weapons. "What we do is protect the country from foreigners. Don't put us on the same level as a terrorist."

Canarie narrowed her eyes slightly. "Jouishishi, then?" she spoke, but her voice dropped a tone.

Kagura stuffed her face with the food that was already in the room. "What's that?"

"20 years ago, during the amanto age, we, 'the Joui', protected the country from foreign enemies. The samurai, feeling pressured by the incoming amanto, fought hard and chased them out of Edo. But the bakafu, who saw the amanto's power, became scared and they abandoned the samurai and made a compromise with the amanto. The amanto than overtook the samurai and made them powerless." Katsura explained.

Canarie knew all to well about the war and the Jouishishi. They were the samurai who fought again the amanto during the war and lost their asses.

Now, she wasn't a Jouishishi, but Kashira was, and it was on that battlefield that she met her demise. The only family she ever had in her life even if they weren't related by blood. Her and Kashira were nothing more than brats off the same streets who grew up close enough to where they considered themselves to be siblings.

After Kashira died...Canarie turned her life into an assassin, but for a twisted way to cope with the loss and grain money to survive out in the world that abruptly turned on its head when the war was over. Being the way she was, It soon became an unhealthy addiction. She just wanted her targets to feel the pain she did...

The day Kashira died...

Was the day her heart died and became a ghost.

No reason to live.

No reason to be kind.

No reason to stay human.

She took her sword that she practiced with day in and day out. The technique and unique style she and Kashira created were used at long last...but not in the way she would have ever dreamed.

"I didn't think...that their still some left." Canarie tried to pull herself together and take a deep breath that shook

Gintoki noticed Canarie clenching her hand tightly to where it was white. He then looked up and eyed someone. "Looks like we've been tricked." He said.

They all followed his gaze and saw a familiar face. It was the postman from this morning.

"Ah!" Kagura noticed and pointed. "It's the fat eyebrow man!"

"Wait..." Shinpachi tried to comprehend all of it. "What's the meaning of this, Fat eyebrow-san!?"

"Hey," Gintoki looked dead at Katsura. "Is this all your doing? All the terrorist attacks lately, and this one too."

Katsura grasped a sword in his hand tightly and held it up. "I have something I want to accomplish, even if I have to use dirty tricks to do so...Gintoki. To rebuild this filthy country, fight by my side with your sword once again! Let me borrow the power of the swordsman once called...Shiroyasha."

That demonic-sounding name brought a strong chill down Canarie's spine, but the realization that HE was in that war...made her absolutely speechless.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**DaDaDa~ Bet you didn't think that! Canarie and Kashira weren't actually siblings, just brats from the same street! It makes sense though since they don't share the same last name. Originally, I had an idea that they were actually sisters but I scrap that idea since it didn't go with Gintama's style. I wanted two no-good brats who formed a bond in surviving together and after a long them, can consider themselves siblings. **

**Now, how is Gintoki gonna react now that Canarie knows that he and Kashira participated in the same war. He's keeping a secret all right. Will we find out the truth in the next chapter?**


	7. Chapter 7

**I got to say a few things before we get the ball rolling. Now, I don't get a lot of reviews on any of my stories, so when I do I'm very thankful. RuIn2T, having you review my story and know how into it you were, just made my freaking day and cause me to grin like an idiot for like half an hour after reading it. So I thank you from the bottom of my heart!**

* * *

**IF YOU GUYS HAVE TIME TO BE A TERRORIST TAKE PERO FOR A WALK**

Flashback

_The days were coated in this dark, black veil with the red eyes of the amanto glaring through at their pray. The air was foul and smelled of stale blood and rotten flesh that has been basking in the sun for far too long._

_Katsura's sword was stabbed into the ground and he panted heavily with blood trailing down his face. "Looks like this is it... Instead of being slaughtered by these monsters, lets cut our own stomachs and die like true bushi." He suggested to Gintoki and Kashira who were behind him._

_"Screw that. Get up." Gintoki waved him off, standing on his own two feet and clenching his sword in his hands tightly. His white clothes and hair were stained with blood. "If you'd like to die so bravely, then let's end this in a blaze of glory."_

_"Heh...blaze of glory my ass." Kashira scoffed with a determined smirk on her dried and cracked lips. "If you guys wanna die out here then freaking die already." She stood back up and opened her arm in a 'bring it' motion. Her long brown hair dancing in the stale blood breeze. Slowly, she slipped her sword back in her sheath, getting into position. "Sorry, but...I have my dear little sister to get back to. I have no intention of dying out here."_

_"If that's the case, then I ain't saving your ass." Gintoki laughed a bit and looked to Kashira who stood on his left._

_"A lot of talk for a man who can't even save himself."_

_"Shut up." His body clenched up. "Let's go, Kashira! Zura!"_

_"It's not Zura! It's Katsura!"_

_It was three again three thousand, but even with the odds against them. They fought. They fought like there was no tomorrow, no hours left, no minutes left. They fought. They screamed their hearts out and used every ounce of strength left in their body to fight for their own damn lives! Compared to their enemies on the battlefield, Gintoki was the one fighting like a demon and Kashira fought as if her own body was transparent, like their blades flew right through her, like a ghost._

* * *

"Crushing the amanto like the devil...feared among enemies and allies... Sakata Gintoki, Let's fight against those amanto once again." Katsura's words felt like a stone being dropped upon Canarie.

Canarie stared at Gintoki in disbelief. "Gintoki...you fought in the war against the amanto?" She breathed out in a whisper by accident.

"You disappeared along with the war. I never understand your beliefs."

Gintoki scratched the back of his head. "Well, I do like to fight. But, uh, not with you gloomy terrorist." Gintoki's eyes looked more serious than usual. "Our battle with those amanto are over. Why are you so stubborn? Are you secretly a girl from Kyoto?"

"Are you stupid? It's not only Kyoto women that are persistent. However, you don't have that quality. That's why ladies don't like you."

"Bastard. I'd have plenty of girls if it wasn't for my naturally permed hair."

"Blaming everything on your perm and not yourself. Isn't that sad?"

"It's not sad at all if I can use my weakness as my leverage to get to the top..."

"What the hell are you two talking about!?" Shinpachi pointed out them getting off topic.

"The war is not over yet. You must have some fight left in you. They took the lives of our comrades who fought to save our country. You must have some grudge against the shogun and those amanto." Katsura continued to hold the sword up in front of him, like for Gintoki to take it. "'Destroy the amanto and rebuild our fallen country.' This is the least that we, the living, can do for our fallen comrades. We shall strike the terminal next. We must destroy the tower that recalls the amanto and drive them out of Edo. Of course, such an important building won't fall so easily. We'll need your help, Gintoki. It's not like you have a choice anyway since you've already been seen as one of us, If you don't want to get punished as a terrorist, you'd better come with us. There's no need to think about it. You are destined to join our cause."

Canarie didn't want to hear about this plan anymore. It's sounded like a suicide attack. The amanto wouldn't stand still for this. It will throw Edo into more chaos. Unconsciously, Canarie reached her shaking hand out to Gintoki. She opened her mouth to talk. "G-Gin..." Before she could speak though, the sliding doors were suddenly kicked down.

Men wearing black uniforms, armed with swords stormed into the small room. "This is the police! All terrorist, stop where you are!" They announced themselves.

Canarie's eyes widen when she saw the uniforms. She recognized them immediately. "Shinsengumi!" She cried out urgently.

"Shit! Run!"

The terrorist and the Yorozuya ran out of the room, kicking the Shinsengumi away to escape down the hall with them hot on their tails

"What are these people!?" Shinpachi screamed, running beside Canarie.

"The Shinsengumi police force. They're a special task force trained to kill terrorist!" She looked over her shoulder, slowly reaching her sword and prepared to fight.

Katsura ran besides Gintoki. "This is bad. What should we do boss?"

"Who are you calling boss!? You're the worst of them all!"

Kagura pointed to herself. "Zura, let me be the boss. My motto is 'Whether going good or bad, I'll be the boss.'"

"You're not going to be a boss to terrorists!" Canarie slapped her on the back of the head. She looked up and gasped. "Gintoki! Duck!"

Immediately, Gintoki ducked down and actually fell to the floor to dodge a sword the was thrust towards his head.

This cop glared down at him. "No need to run away. C'mon. This is a fight. At least enjoy yourself."

"Hey, are you really an officer? How did you pass your interview? Your pupils are glowing."

"What! Your eyes look like a dead fish!"

"It's okay. They shine when it's necessary."

Canarie just stared at them a bit, dumbfounded. How can they talk a situation like this? She glanced over and her eyes widened. "Hey!" She called to Gintoki.

"Hijikata-san, please watch out." Another police called out in a monotone voice but launched his bazooka right towards them.

"Gintoki!" The lazy samurai felt a strong tug on his collar right before the bazooka went off.

The police walked through the smoke. "Hijikata-san, are you still alive." He saw his boss laying on the floor, but still alive.

"You bastard! I could've have died!" He shouted angrily at him.

The cop clicked his tongue. "Shoot. I missed."

"What do you mean you missed!? Look at me when I'm talking!"

The cop looked to a closet the was obviously barricaded. "Vice-captain, they're in here." The pointed to the closet.

* * *

So here they were. Terrorists and the Yorozuya stuck in a closet with only a table as a barricade.

Canarie wanted nothing more than the earth to open up and swallow her whole. "Alright. So...we're on the 15th floor, no window, in a closet, and surrounded by the police. Can this day get any worse..." She wanted to cry. In all her years being an assassin, she has never been in such an impossible situation like this one before.

Katsura reached into his haori and pulled out a small ball like device.

Gintoki eyed it. "What's that?"

"It's a time bomb. I was going to blow the terminal with it. Oh well. I'll give this to them. Then we'll run away from the ensuing chaos."

Gintoki suddenly grabbed Katsura by the front of his kimono. "Zura...let's put an end to all of this. No matter how dirty your hands get, it won't ease our comrades' deaths, nor will it change this era. Don't get your hands any dirtier."

Katsura glared, grabbing Gintoki arm. "You're the one with dirty hands, Gintoki. Flopping with this era. To be a Bushi is to follow your beliefs until the end!"

"What's the point of following that kind of samurai code. I don't want to lose any more cherished friends because of it. I'm not gonna do that anymore. If my life is on the line, then I'll follow my own code. I'll live however I want to live and protect what I want to protect." Gintoki spoke, his words strong enough to where Katsura couldn't even touch.

"Yeah, but Gintoki..." Canarie tugged on his sleeve. She was holding the bomb in her hands while Kagura grinned sheepishly behind her. "Kagura was playing with the bomb and accidentally activated it." She said dryly.

"Huh?"

"Eh?"

The two stared at her for way too damn long as the bomb began to count down from 10. Reality finally struck them upside the face like a gorilla hand and they turned a frightening shade of pale.

"What!?" Gintoki screeched like a 10 year old girl. "Now what are we gonna do?" He flung his arms around.

7 seconds...

Canarie stared in silence at the bomb for a few moments as her mind slowly began to calm down from panic before they got stuck in this closet. She suddenly shoved the bomb in Gintoki's chest.

He fumbled with it for a second. "What the hell!?" He blinked. "What are you doing? Oi! Canarie!"

Canarie stood in front of the door and as she slowly got into position. She turned to the side with her body twisted around, sword at her left hip and all her strength at her back foot. Her eyes sharpened and as everything began to move very slowly in her eyes as her sword made a clicking sound of it coming out of the hit by only an inch.

Katsura's eyes widen once this woman's name made it to his ears and his eyes laid witness to a familiar stance that only two people should know of. He just watched in utter shock. "Cana..rie?"

* * *

"_Sorry, but...I have my dear little sister to get back to. I have no intention of dying out here."_

* * *

5 seconds...

The moment they saw the silver glimmer in her blade, she pulled it out and swiftly sliced the door, cut in half and exposing the Shinsengumi behind them looking rather confused on what the hell they were doing now.

Gintoki sprung into action, still not really understanding what was going on."Get back! We got a bomb!" Gintoki shouted and showing the bomb off to them.

"What!?" The Shinsengumi saw the bomb in his hand and making a break for it to escape away from the bomb.

Canarie sheathed her sword. She leaned forward and took off in a blink of an eye. She looked over her shoulder and held her hands up. "Gintoki!" She gestured for the bomb.

Gintoki reeling all the way back with the bomb above his head. "Canarie! Go long!" He slammed his foot down and threw the murder-ball. Canarie jumped up and caught the ball with her hands and without stopping, ran down the long hall at a speed that made her nothing but a bluer in their eyes now.

3 seconds...

She saw a window at the end of the hall. Her heels slamming against the floor as she slowly picked up speed. Canarie sprang up, held her hands up over her face and broke through the glass with her body and jumped out into the open air. She looked up towards the sky as the glass fragments reflected in her eyes like slow motion, her face remaining utterly still and calm.

2 seconds...

1 second...

* * *

Gintoki's whole body felt that explosion when it went off and he immediately felt his heart drop when they saw the broken window at the end of the hall after going after Canarie.

Gintoki ran over to the edge. What did she do with the bomb? Did it kill her? Did she fall to her death? His mind raced like a speeding bullet and it made him feel sick to his stomach as panic flooded every fiber of his being. "Canarie!" he shouted out.

"What?" Canarie face suddenly appeared right in front of him from below.

"Ah!" He jumped back from shock. He saw her literately standing over the edge. She wasn't even inside the building anymore. "How you doing that!?" he pointed to her. "Did you really turn into a freaking ghost!?

Canarie blinked. "The hell are you talking about?"

Shinpachi and Kagura looked over the edge and saw what she was standing on. She had her sword stabbed into the wall of the building and was standing on the flat part of the blade.

"That so cool." Kagura grinned.

Shinpachi was almost pale with disbelief. "How where you able to do that?"

Canarie jumped back inside the building and yanked her sword out. In a swift motion, she sheathed her blade with a small click. "I used this trick a few times during my last employment when escaping seemingly impossible situations." She looked to Gintoki and smirked like a deviant child. "What? Did you think I died?" She said in almost a mocking tone.

Impossible. This girl was utterly, inhumanly, stupidly impossible. Not to mention unfair. You can't just go willy-nilly jumping out the window and not cause everyone to worry. You stupid and badass son of a bitch!

* * *

Katsura stood upon a different rooftop where a helicopter awaited him. He stared at Gintoki and Canarie. "Is this what you call fate or just dumb luck? To think that you, Gintoki, would actually meet Kashira's beloved little sister...and to believe that how similar their way of fighting was. If it wasn't for her...then we all would have died." Katsura closed his eyes for a second. He turned around and started to walk towards the helicopter but looked up to the blue sky that was still covered with black smoke. "Hey, Kashira...are you still watching over your sister?"

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**I guess we'll have to wait for the secrets to come later. But hey, looks like Katsura knows Kashira too, and he may know what happened in the past as well!**


	8. Chapter 8

**ONCE YOU'VE MAKE A PROMISE, KEEP IT UNTIL YOU DIE!**

Bastard cops!

Gintoki kicked the Shinsengumi sign right outside their headquarters. They were finally able, at long last, to leave these pricks. Freaking felt like forever since they last breathed clean air.

"Even after Canarie risked her life to get rid of a bomb, these rotten cops still interrogated us for three days!' Gintoki huffed.

Canarie was just drained at this point in time, exhausted and just wanted to go the hell home and hibernate for the next year. "I got in trouble because they found out about my sword too. I'm glad they just let me off with a warning though." She glanced down at her cloaked sword, now wrapped up in a mint colored cloth. She gave a sigh and attached it to her back with strings.

"Are you gonna leave it at home for now on?" Gintoki asked.

"No." She bluntly said, sitting by the gate to have a breather.

"But didn't it turn out all right? Our names are now cleared from being a terrorist." Shinpachi said optimistically.

"Yeah." Gintoki faced away from them. "I'll urinate them a nice 'Thank you.'" Making good on his promise, he unzipped his pants. Canarie causally lifting her hand up to block the few.

Kagura squatted down. "All right, I'll vomit!" She stuck her finger in the back of her throat, and like Gintoki making good of her promise too.

God, he was a horrible role model.

"Don't make little terrorist attacks of your own!" Shinpachi protested but he began to walk away. "I don't want to be involved if you guys get caught. I'm going home! Cana-san, make sure those idiots go straight home!"

Canarie only lifted her hand up in response. She leaned against the board. "He seems to be in a hurry." She pointed out and looked down. "Gintoki, Kagura's puking on you." She called out nonchalantly.

"Wha-?" He jumped back from Kagura who was still puking. "Where the hell are you puking!"

A loud whistle noise was ringing in their ears just as a man jumped down from the wall beside them, dressed in a prison outfit. He landed on the ground but slipped on the puke and about cracked his head open on the concrete.

"Ooph!" He sat up quickly and grabbed the back of his throbbing head.. "Ow ow ow ow ow!"

Canarie got up and walked over to him. "Hey, you okay?" She asked just as officers skid out the corner, blowing their whistle and pointing to the old man.

"Hey! Stop him! He's a fugitive, dammit!" They shouted.

The fugitive spring to his feet and grabbed Canarie by the arm and placed her in front of him. "If you care about the little girl, don't come any closer!" He threatened.

Canarie's eye twitched as his words finally began to spin in her head. "Little girl?" Was she being held as a hostage? Her? The woman known as the Kabuki-Cho Ghost?

"Hey! You!" He looked to Gintoki, who was still kind of spacing off. "White-haired guy! Do you have a driver's license?"

"I have a normal license but..."

* * *

"How the hell did it turn up like this?" Gintoki asked himself, driving a stolen police car with Canarie still a hostage in the back and Kagura in the front with him, lazily looking out the window.

"Why does this always happen to us?" Canarie grumbled from the back seat with the fugitive's arm still around her.

"Hey mister, you think you'll really get away with pulling a stunt like this?" Gintoki asked.

"Whatever, make a right turn here." The fugitive ordered.

"These days, accomplishing a jailbreak is harder than winning the lottery."

"It's not about running away, Just this one day... If I can be free for just this one day...that's all I need."

Gintoki looked at him through the rear-view mirror and saw Canarie shaking a bit.

"It's a special day." The fugitive said.

Gintoki nodded his head. "I understand, but...the girl you have with you..."

The fugitive blinked. "Sorry. I didn't mean any harm." But Gintoki looked a bit nervous.

Kagura leaned against the door and stared outside at the passing buildings. "But Cana-chan does." She bluntly said.

The fugitive looked down and shuttered upon seeing a black aura radiating off Canarie. He slowly raised his hands, actually without thinking.

"S-Sorry." He apologized while stuttering.

Canarie moved away. "By the way...I'm not a little girl... I'm in my late twenties already." She said in a stony voice with blood-shot eyes.

"S-Sorry."

How the hell can her assassin switch be turned on that easily? And just by being called a little girl?

* * *

Little did they expect to be this disappointed when they arrived at the scene... A scene for a superstars debut, Otsu-chan. The crowd was full of pimply face men who blushed and cheered like mad. The whole thing made Canarie a little uncomfortable. She stationed herself between Gintoki and Kagura.

The adorable girl stood at the front of the audience with a big grin on her face. "Everybody! For coming to Otus's concert today, thank you shpank you!"

"Shpank you!" They only cheered back loudly.

Gintoki spoke flatly to the fugitive who seemed just as excited as everyone else. "What the hell is this?"

"It's the super-popular idol Terakado Tsuu-chan's first concert." He said in response, way too damn serious for something as stupid as this.

Gintoki and Canarie then immediately cracked their boots over the fugitives head and knocked him to the ground. They actually were hoping to split his rotten watermelon on the ground. Dumbass old man ruined his life for something this stupid?

"You bastard! What the hell do you think life is worth!?" Gintoki shouted.

Canarie's face flushed with sheer embarrassment. Just being in a place like this was beginning to make her skin crawl. She swore she was going to break out in hives. "He broke out of prison just to see an idol. Did he ruin his whole life just for this?"

"If that's the way it is, I'll shove his ass into a pigpen, what an asshole."

The fugitive rubbed his head. "I can ruin my entire life just for one moment because it's my own life." He said. "In life, you have to know when the important moments. You can't overlook it." he tried to sound deep but was knocked over the head once again by Canarie.

Gintoki started to push himself and Canarie up the stairs to get out of this cult-ish place. "None of us need this. Let's go, Kagura."

Kagura frowned. "Eh~ I wanted to stay a little and watch. It looks like fun."

"Don't be influenced!"

Canarie pointed to the members of the crowd in all their glory. "Don't be deceived. It looks like a cult."

Gintoki tried his best to hide Canarie, fearing that she might be swallowed up by these men who looked like they hit puberty yesterday and had never once seen a woman in their whole life, with their flushed chubby cheeks and patchy facial hair. Just looking at them made his skin crawl even more, like thousands of bugs were dancing on his body. He was more so worried for Canarie since her presence was starting to catch the attention of some men. Her appearance looked right up their alley too. A short, cute girl dressed in cute clothes too.

They quickly walked up to the stairs just when they noticed a rather familiar commanding voice of none other then Shinpachi. He was dressed in a haori with bandages around his stomach, carrying a wooden sword as he ordered his 'squad'

"Hey!" He pointed dramatically. "What're you doing spacing out over there? Use your voice!"

Canarie came up behind him "When did you become a captain?"

"From the moment I was born, I was destined to be the captain of the Otsu-chan's imperial guard." He turned around to address the one who talked to him but only to squeal loudly when he saw Canarie and Gintoki. "Cana-san? Gin-san?!" He screamed as all the color drained from his face. "What the hell are you two doing here?"

"That's what I wanna know." The two said bluntly in unison.

"You doing this lame fanboy thing...you should apologize to your sister," Gintoki said.

"I decide what to do on my own!" Shinpachi protested. "I'm not a little kid!"

Just then a voice called out to Gintoki and Canarie. "Hey, you two over there..." A middle-aged woman walked up to them. "Don't stagger around in the middle of a concert. You're going to bother the rest of the audience."

Shinpachi saluted the woman. "Sorry manager, I'll throw them out." He felt a cold hand on his back and not only regretted saying those words but regretted his whole life's choices in a matter of seconds.

"Try...and I will be less happy then I am now." Canarie's threatening cold voice whispered in his ear like a reaper coming to collect.

The woman adjusted her glasses. "Because it's that girls first concert today...we have to make sure it's a success." She glanced over and noticed the fugitive cheering with the rest of the audience. "Honey...?" She paled.

* * *

Everything was now becoming easier to understand. The manager's cold attitude towards her husband for him being a murderer, and the promise he had made to his daughter years ago to bring her a million roses for her first concert.

Gintoki listened on while chewing on a piece of gum...right before Canarie popped it with a toothpick. The gum blew up in his face. "You little..." He grumbled and began to pick the pieces out.

Canarie stood in front of the fugitive. "I get it now. All for a promise you made to your daughter."

the fugitive smiled shamefully. "There's no way she would remember. It's been 13 years. No, she wouldn't want to remember it. Her dad, a murderer and a member of the yakuza. Thanks to me, who knows how long she's had to endure hardships. She probably doesn't even want to see my face." He got up. "I'm going back."

"Did you forget to buy roses?" Gintoki asked.

"Cana-chan!" Canarie looked up and saw Kagura running down the hall straight up to them.

"What is it?" She asked.

"There's trouble at the theater! A lone audience member went berserk and went 'podon'!" Kagura tried to say but her lack of explanation only irritated Gintoki.

He grabbed her by her face. "What the hell are you saying? Speak normally!"

"Gintoki." Canarie caught his attention. "In short. There was an amanto at the crowd, a Shokugenzoku. They are a passionate eater that devours the person they get excited over."

Gintoki started at her utterly dumbfounded. "How the hell were you able to make that out so fast?"

* * *

The amanto marched with its heavy footsteps through the crowd. He was twice the size of everyone else and had a roundish figure. The bandages around his stomach slid down and revealed a monstrous mouth with sharp teeth underneath.

He called out cheerfully to Otsu who laid frozen on the ground. "Otsu-chan~ Become one with me, in my stomach!"

The manager ran up to the young girl and grabbed Otsu by her hand. "Hurry up and run, Otus!"

Otsu was pale as the loud footsteps got closer. "I can't...I hurt my ankle when I fell." She looked back to her horror as the giant's hand reached out towards her.

Otsu was suddenly shoved to the side as the fugitive, now wearing a bag over his head grabbed the amanto's hand, stopping him from getting anywhere near her.

"Otsu! Hurry up and run!" He urged her but was swat away from the giant's hand like he was a fly.

Shinpachi and his team of 'men' charged forth towards the amanto. "Let's go! We'll also protect Otsu-chan!" He was suddenly shoved aside as an ashy blur ran past him at a fierce speed. "That's...Cana-san!" His eyes brightened.

Canarie appeared in front of the amanto in a flash with blood-shot eyes. Her body twisted upside down in the air and her sword glimmered in the light as she whipped it out and slashed it against the amanto's chest, bringing the creature down with a single blow. Canarie quickly sheath her blade and landed on top of the fallen beast, standing victorious but with a rather bored look on her face.

Man, that was a quick victory.

"Hey, pops." Gintoki chucked something from across the room towards the fugitive.

He quickly grabbed it. A makeshift bouquet of sidewalk flowers wrapped in a flyer.

Gintoki waved him off as the Yorozuya walked off. "You'll need a million flower, just cheat a little and make the rest of with love."

The fugitive scoffed at his remark. He just knew that Otsu had no reason to remember that stupid promise. So, he handed the poor excuse of a bouquet over to Otsu and got up to leave.

"Hey," Otsu called out when he was halfway out the door. "Next time, bring roses with you, ok?" She smiled. "Until then, I'll wait here on this stage forever, father!"

The door shut behind the concert hall. Gintoki and Canarie stood on the other side as the fugitive walked through.

"Yo," Gintoki said. "Did you have a tearful goodbye?"

Tears fell down the fugitives eyes as he crumbled up the plastic bag in his hand. "Idiot! It wasn't goodbye. We'll definitely meet again...next time, I'll do it with pride." He puffed out his chest with as much pride as he had left and started to walk back to the prison.

Canarie rolled her eyes and sighed. "That's the thing about promises...you gotta keep them till you die." A very faint smile crept to her lips. "That reminds me. Gintoki, there was something I was wanting to ask you from the time we met Katsura. I had a sister that was part of that war...so..." Her eyes trailed away as the words tried to form on her tongue. "I was wondering if you might've known her. Her name was Kurojina Kashira."

Gintoki could feel his stomach twisting with her words. He could only remember her face now. Kashira's face.

* * *

_Her long brown hair danced in the rotten air as bodies fell at her feet one after another. A melancholy smile placed upon her lips with longing as they were splattered with blood from the amanto. She gazed back with a surreal and gentle expression in her brown eyes as the rustic sun began to set behind her. She soon vanished before everyone's eyes._

* * *

He opened his mouth to speak. "Who knows. I wasn't really paying attention all that much back then." this overwhelming sense of guilt made him feel sick to his stomach as Canarie's expression morphed sadly and her eyes fell. It felt like his skin was on fire and he didn't want to face the reality of it all. Gintoki wanted to ask if it was true. If she was actually the woman Kashira bragged about all this time. If she was actually her little sister. He saw the letter, yes, but to find her actually in front of him felt so much like a nightmare.

"I see...that's too bad." Canarie's voice fell and she got up off the wall and began to walk out.

Gintoki said nothing and watched Canarie walk out of the theater as his guilt was held behind his sewed lips.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Ah~ Gintoki, Gintoki. You really shouldn't hold back secrets involving Kashira to her little sister. It ain't gonna be pretty. **


	9. Chapter 9

**THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN STREIGHT AND PERSEVERANCE IS PAPER THIN!**

There are people in this world that take a lot to surprise and are unfazed about it. Canarie is one of those people, but on this day she might just found one of those things that just totally take her breath away.

"What? Someone proposed to you?!" And it sure didn't help with Shinpachi rubbing it in.

Canarie Stared at Tae with a paled face. "Is it true?" She asked firmly.

"Yes, it is." Tae smiled. "A customer of mine suddenly asked yesterday." She explained.

"What did you say?" Canarie asked.

"Of course, I politely turned him down. But I was really surprised. Even though it was the first time we met, he was so insistent. If he wasn't so persistent I would've flatly refused to his face."

Canarie didn't know how this brought her to this great amount of shock. She will admit that Tae is a very attractive woman and seemed to be very level headed, so the idea of a proposal didn't seem so far fetched. It only made her wonder just who this guy was.

Something then suddenly caught her line of sight. She turned to the open doors and saw what looked to be a man shimmying up the power pole.

"Otae-san!" He announced across the yard. "Marry me! Even if you dump me once or twice, I won't give up! You see, women are happier to be loved than to love! That's what my mom used to say!"

Canarie could feel a shiver down her spine while Shinpachi's skin crawled. Persistent wasn't even the word to describe this man. He was a stalker. A plain-as-day stalker.

Tae spoke with this chilling undertone. "Canarie-chan...your pitching arm isn't too rusty, is it?" She reached down and picked up an ashtray and handed it to her. "Would you please." She smiled.

Canarie blinked at this. She looked at the tray then up at the stalker. "I understand." She got to her feet and walked over to the edge. She held her hand up and lifted her leg high in the air in a baseball stance before chucking the tray across the yard and straight into the man's face. He crumbled to the ground with a loud splat.

* * *

Gintoki was less than worried to say the lease and spoke in a dull tone like usual. "How nice. You can become a happy little bride." He said with a spoon in his mouth. He was probably more interested in his strawberry sundae more than this. "He has a sword so he's probably a member of the shogunate or something. Marry him for money. Then you can get a quickie divorce before he gets to know the real you."

Tae slammed his head into his sundae. "What is that suppose to mean?"

Canarie sighed and grabbed the back of her kimono and pulled her back down. "Can't you just wait it out until he gave up?"

Tae looked grim. "I thought that so it didn't really bother me. Then I realized wherever I went, he was there."

Canarie could feel her skin crawl. "That's...creepy. Ginto-" She stopped herself.

Gintoki clapped his hands as Kagura scarfed down the rest of the giant bowl of gamine soup with the Chelf timing her. She had 30 seconds left to finish.

"Ok, it's the final stretch," Gintoki said. "Don't chew, just chug it Kagura. I'm depending on you since I didn't bring any money."

Canarie's eye twitched. "Didn't bring any? More like you don't have any money in the first place. Get your facts straight, you idiot."

Gintoki frowned and looked at her with dead an uninterested eyes. "So what do you want me to do. If it's part of the job, I'll do what I have to."

"I'm at my wit's end right now, Gintoki. End this...or I will." Her eyes flashed a deviant look.

Gintoki didn't need to know what that meant. He got up from his seat In a flash. "You damn stalker! Where are you!? I'm gonna kick your ass!"

A man came up from underneath the next door table. "What the hell?! Just try it and see!"

"He was here..." Shinpachi said dryly.

"A guy who answers to 'stalker' must be pretty retarded. Do you really approve of being a stalker?" Gintoki said.

"If a person who continues to pursue love is a stalker then yes." The gorilla spoke. "You were talking to Otae-san pretty intimately just now. What kind of relationship do you have? It's enough to make me very envious."

"We're engaged!" Tae spoke up and linked her arm with Gintoki who looked just as confused as Canarie looked pale "Our wedding day is in spring! We've already done this and that, so please give up on me."

Someone might as well punch Canarie in the stomach because all the air was sucked out of her lungs in an instant. She stared with wide eyes and mouth gaped open. Her heart began to speed up and throb a bit too.

The gorilla's face twisted with extreme anger. "This, that and the other things you say?"

"No, they didn't do the other thing..." Shinpachi said.

"No! It's okay, Otae-san! No matter the path in life you have walked I shall save you from it. Because you said you loved me and my hairy ass."

"I don't love it at all, actually," Tae said.

"Hey! White-perm boy!" He pointed dramatically at Gintoki who stared back with dead fish eyes. "I don't care if you're Otae-san's fiancee! There's no way someone like you can love Otae-san more than me! I challenge you to a duel! With Otae-san as the prize!"

What the actual hell is going on anymore...

* * *

He was serious. Dead on serious. The gorilla was fully prepared and stood on the river bank with an actual sword at his hip. Canarie, Shinpachi, Kagura and Tae stood at the top of the bridge and looked down at this determined man. Gintoki was nowhere in sight.

"What do you think, Cana-san?" Shinpachi asked, seeing that Canarie should know a strong man when she sees one, knowing her former job as a hired hitman.

Canarie leaned on the beam with her hand up against her chin. "He's strong, that much is obvious. See how he looks so calm right now. I can tell that he's seen his fair share of combat." She determined.

Kagura cocked her umbrella. "Don't worry, Cana-chan. If Gin-chan gets in trouble, I'll rain fire with my umbrella."

"Oh, yes. Please do, Kagura." Canarie only agreed, much to Shinpachi's own worry.

"Hey!" They found the gorilla calling up to them. "Where the hell is he?"

"He said he had to go to the toilet."

Finally, Gintoki decided to show himself after a long ass time.

"Here he comes!" The gorilla shouted. "You're late big time, you bastard!"

"A hero is never 'late big time' for things. We just take our sweet time." Just like him to bullshit out an excuse.

"I've never heard of a hero taking enough 'sweet' time that he borders on being diabetic! Choose your weapon. If you want to use real swords, I'll loan you whatever you like." He offered.

"Nah, this thing is good enough." Gintoki gripped the wooden swords at his hip.

"Are you underestimating me, you punk?"

"A guy who uses a stick to duel with somebody's life on the line seems a little grandiose, doesn't it? It seems more like I'm wagering my own life instead." Gintoki said. "Instead of wagering Otae, how about putting my life on the line? Even if you win, she won't become your bride. But with me gone, you can feel free to try and seduce her, or whatever you like. Of course, if I win, I will marry-."

Canarie's eye twitched. "Enough!" She shouted to grab their attention. "No one needs to risk their lives for something as stupid as this." Canarie reached down beside her and grabbed Shinpachi's wooden sword. "Here!"

The gorilla caught the wooden sword as it came flying at him. almost hitting him in the face. It looked like she was aiming for it.

Finally, they took a stance with their swords.

"Win or lose, no grudges," Gintoki said.

"Yes... a pure duel between men. Now, fight!"

They charged at one another at the same time and raised their sword over their head for the first strike...only for the gorilla's sword to snapped in half suddenly. Gintoki didn't stop and slammed the guy at full force, leaving him with a big welt on his face.

Gintoki stood there in utter shock and wondered what just happened and why his sword broke. Slowly, everyone turned their heads to Canarie as she walked away from the fight.

Ah...did she do that on purpose?


	10. Chapter 10

**A GOOD FIGHT SHOULD DO**

"Ah, Canarie-sama~ Why don't you just admit that you were the one to sabotage the wooden sword with that gorilla," Gintoki asked while looking over to the other side of the roof where Canarie was working on putting shingles up.

Since the Yorozuya was a place where they were willing to do almost anything for money, they were hired as a handyman to fix up the roof for a small business. Shinpachi had off, Kagura wouldn't wake up, so it was up to Gintoki and Canarie to do it. Now, he's been pressuring her about that incident the whole damn day and it's finally getting on Canarie's nerves. The sun was hot as shit and working with this guy who wouldn't stop asking questions on a wobbly rooftop finally set her off.

"Alright, fine! I did it! Now, will you shut up about it already, you idiot? You're really starting to grind my gears!" Her voice belted across the roof while she waved her hammer around like she was a gorilla herself.

Gintoki gave the biggest and goofiest grin. "Oh, were you jealous by any chance, Canarie-sama~"

"Who the hell would be jealous about a guy like you!?" Canarie's eyes went bloodshot and mental. She gave the idiot a glare that could cut him down if he tried again. "The only way you'll ever get married if you secretly set it up and force her fingerprint on the marriage documents!"

Gintoki scoffed and looked away, trying to find the fact that he was a little hurt by her words. "With an attitude like that, I don't see you ever getting married either. We're both the types to die alone anyway."

"Don't compare me to you, you moron!"

Gintoki turned back around and saw a hammer being flung at him. It knocked it against his forehead and he accidentally released a rope holding a pile of steel beams up. "Ah?" He rubbed his sore forehead that was saved by his hard helmet. "Hey, bro, look out." He lazily called out as the steel beams almost fell upon a police officer in a black suit as he was walking by.

The man jumped back out of fright and fell to the ground as the steel beams landed right where he would have been if he kept walking. "That was dangerous!" He screeched to Gintoki as he climbed down the ladder.

"That's why I said 'Look out'."

"Say it a bit more urgency next time! Do you understand!?"

"Shut the hell up. I don't remember anywhere that it expected for a stranger to randomly show some urgency." He took his helmet off.

Canarie looked over the edge to see what the hold up was and saw this black-clad man that she recognized. "Ah? Ain't he the guy from Ikeda?" She now remembered it was during their first time meeting Katsura. When they she had to clock a bomb before it blew up inside. Canarie wasn't the only one who recognized them though.

"Ahh! You're the one from Ikeda!" He mouth dropped to the ground. "Wait a moment, you're also silver-haired, aren't you?"

"Um, who are you?" Gintoki questioned him. He paused though. "Could it be Ookuji-kun. Oh my, how you've grown." Dead wrong.

Canarie sighed and shook her head. "Gintoki, hurry up and get back up here. We still got a lot to do!" She called out.

"Shut up! You're the one who hit me with a hammer a moment ago. I should be going to the doctor." He climbed back up and got back to work. Or more like Canarie was doing work and he was slacking off.

"You always said you had a hard head. It ain't gonna hurt you any." Canarie rolled her eyes and looked up, frowning as the same guy came up with Gintoki. "Ah, sir? I don't think you should be up here." She felt her hands twitch a bit when she noticed a sword he held in his hand.

"You're used to clocking bombs and now you're repairing rooftop." This guy said with a chilling glare. "What the hell are you doing?"

It looks like the old gears in Gintoki's head finally begin to move once more. He remembered this guy's face back then. "You're from that time."

This man took one more step towards him. "Ever since then, you two been on my mind. Someone who would do such absurd things as you two, we don't have anybody like that in the Shinsengumi. I would never believe there was a fool who could defeat Kondou-san too. Even if it was you, It's still hard to accept."

Gintoki frowned and looked back at Canarie as her expression morphed to concern. He looked back just when this man passed a sword over to him. He looked down at it. "Are you an acquaintance of that gorilla? If so then don't blame me, she-" He was gonna put the blame on Canarie when this stranger suddenly charged at him. He held the sheathed sword up to defend himself but was pushed back by the impact.

Canarie felt her heart drop. "The hell are you doing!?" She grits her teeth together and gave this man the wildest and demented stare.

The man matched her glare when his cool gaze. "What? If you wanna join in then be my guess."

Canarie could feel her body shake with anticipation as her blood began to boil over, but Gintoki's voice cut her off in her trembles. "Canarie, just give it a rest." He sighed deeply and got up. Yeah, it's true that the gorilla was defeated because Canarie tampered with the sword he was using, but he rather not have her get in trouble with the cops because of her background. They'd probably know right away that she was the Ghost of Kabuki-Chou if she fought this guy, and another thing...she'd probably kill him too.

The stranger held up his sword. "A gorilla, huh? To us, the Shinsengumi, he's a very important boss. With this one sword, we made the Shinsengumi together. He's my comrade in arms. I will not allow anybody to disgrace our Shinsengumi! If there's anybody who would obstruct that path, with this sword...I'll make mince-meat outta them!" He charged.

Canarie felt her legs frozen in place as her voice belted out. "Get out of the way!"

He slammed his sword down on the tiles but Gintoki disappeared from his sight, only to come up behind him.

"Don't wave that sword around like an idiot!" He howled and kicked the strange man in the face. He began to fall over but this deviant look appeared in his eyes before he brought his sword up and sliced it across Gintoki's shoulder.

Canarie's eyes filled with blood and that was all she could see and understand for the longest time, despite it only being a fraction of a second. She let out a weak breath and tried to calm her demons down that chewed on the cage and screamed from inside her mind. One word. It would only be one word if Gintoki needed help. Just one...word.

Gintoki crashed down on the roof and held his bleeding shoulder. "The hell's wrong with you! Canarie, call the damn police!"

"I am the police!" The strange growled.

Gintoki scoffed at that. "Well, even the world must end someday."

The stranger won't deny that he didn't read Gintoki's moves at all. He heard about the dirty trick that he (Canarie) pulled on Kondou back then, yet...he hasn't pulled out the sword he was given. It wasn't long though when Gintoki gripped the weapon in his hand and yanked it out of its sheath, finally telling him that he was ready to fight. The black-clad man charged at Gintoki and slammed his sword down, seemingly making contact, only for him to blink and realize what he had cut in half was a towel Gintoki was holding this whole time. The silver-haired lazy bum was quick on the uptake and got behind him in the blink of an eye and struck his sword over his, snapping it in half.

Gintoki gave a weak smile in victory. "And that's the end of that." He looked over to Canarie as she stood there, frozen pale and with bloodshot eyes. Right on time, he thought, because it wouldn't have been long before she jumped in herself. "Canarie, come on!"

Canarie blinked and that demented look in her eyes disappeared. She sighed with relief and walked over to him. "Yeah, yeah. I'll treat you for your hospital bill." They began to head out when the stranger called back to Gintoki.

"Wait! Why did you show mercy?"

Gintoki paused. "Mercy? It's not like that. If I was to be with you, the most I would bet on is dinner. You fight when you want to protect something. It seems like you want to protect the Shinsengumi."

"To protect... What are you protecting?"

Gintoki took a moment, looking down at Canarie as she wrapped his shoulder up in a towel. He sighed deeply "My own rules."

Canarie's ashy glanced up at him and they made eye contact. She shook her head and patted him on his bad shoulder and caused him to flinch. "Come on, drama queen." Canarie pushed him to the ladder and waited for him to climb down before glancing over her shoulder at the black-clad stranger. She didn't say anything but just stared at him before walking off the edge to take her idiot to the hospital.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Yep, our little Canarie was so ready to fight Hijikata just now but Gintoki didn't want her to get in trouble since she already has a bad past with the police. In all honesty, she's still a criminal who took peoples lives in exchange for money. But ah~ He trying to protect her...in his own weird way.**


	11. Chapter 11

**WHEN YOU'RE TIRED, EAT SOUR STUFF**

Canarie exe. has stopped working.

The former assassin perfectly still in front of the Yorozuya where a package had been delivered, in the form of a big, ginormous white dog. Yet, despite the severity of the situation and the obvious case of it being an amanto...she found the strange beast to be absolutely adorable.

Kagura came up behind Canarie with her new sour love, sukonbu in her mouth. "What are you standing outside like this, Cana-chan? Did you find some porn magazines?" The sound of the dog barking caught her attention and her eyes lit up. "Wow!"

* * *

"We're back," Canarie announced and walked inside. Gintoki was on the couch sleeping with Jump over his eyes, and Shinpachi was sweeping the floor. "Kagura's back too?"

"Did you buy the toilet paper?" Shinpachi asked.

"Yup." She dropped the single roll in his hand.

A single...roll.

Shinpachi stared at the single roll in his hand. "Kagura-chan, you know...usually people buy these in a pack. This won't be enough for the next person that get's diarrhea." He looked up to his saving grace, the last person in this household who has enough common sense. "Cana-san...?"

"I'll go back out and get a pack." She answered like an angel.

Gintoki looked up with his sleepy eyes and dropped the j=Jump from his face. For a moment he thought his vision was failing him when he saw a big white dog standing behind Canarie and Kagura.

Shinpachi glanced over and finally noticed the giant beast. He shrieked out. "What is that thing!?" He cried like a girl.

"He was dropped outside our door." Canarie crossed her arm, completely cool and unable to understand how big the situation was.

"Isn't he cute, Cana-chan?" Kagura petted the beast.

Canarie smiled and nodded her head. "Yes. Yes, he is."

"Something like that doesn't drop. If you picked it up, then someone who knows it will come to pick it up." Gintoki said flatly.

"His name is Sadaharu." The girls said in perfect unison.

"You named it just now, didn't you!?"

"Calm down." Canarie reached into her sleeve and pulled out a letter. "This was slipped in between his collar." She handed it to Shinpachi."

Shinpachi unfolded it and scanned it. "Ah...'Mr. And Mrs. Yorozuya, I'm very sorry about this, but please take my pet.'"

Gintoki's eye twitched. "Why the hell are they speaking like me and Canarie are married? Is that it?"

Shinpachi squinted his eyes. "He also wrote 'Hehe'."

"What's so goddamn funny!?" Gintoki shredded the letter. "It's going to take a lot just to throw him out! I'm a freelancer, not a volunteer! Throw him out now!"

Canarie stepped between them and held her hand out. "Hold on. If you throw him out in the elements then he'll die!"

"He'll be fine. If he is a great one, then he can survive on his own." Gintoki tried to explain to the girls and stepped up to Sadaharu. "You understand, right?"

Sadaharu opened his mouth and chomped down on his head.

* * *

Sadaharu, the big white dog chased Kagura around the park in a seemingly friendly game of tag while Canarie worked on getting Gintoki and Shinpachi's injuries bandaged up. She was just fine because Sadaharu wasn't fast enough to actually hurt her.

"Canarie-sama." Gintoki let out a long dried out sigh that seemed to drain all the life out of his soul. "Why does it like her so much?"

"Knock it off with the sama, will ya?" She fastened the bandages around his wild white perm. Her eyes peeked up above his big ahead. "Can't you see? It's not like that. It's attacking Kagura, but for her it's nothing."

"Oh, I see..." Gintoki blinked for a moment when I thought popped up. "Canarie, why are you so attached to it?" He and Shinpachi have been through the wringer with this dog and been chewed up, spit out and chewed up again. Kagura and Canarie have been happily playing with Sadaharu just fine up till now because those two girls were monsters, really. "You don't seem like the type to have pets."

"You're not wrong on that." Canarie slapped her hand down on his wild perm and ruffled his hair before sitting down. "Kashira and I, we could barely take care of ourselves so having to take care of a pet just seemed to be impossible for us, despite how much we wanted one." She smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of her head, her face flushed red a bit with embarrassment. "Sadaharu...is my first pet."

Gintoki could feel his stomach twist when she said that. He bit down on his lips and looked away from her and at the two monsters playing.

"Cana-chan!" Kagura ran over to Canarie with the biggest grin on her face. "I forgot to buy some sukonbu. Do you have any money?"

"Yeah. I got some." Canarie got up before looking back to the guys. "Kagura and I are going out for a bit, so can you two take care of Sadaharu while we're gone?"

Gintoki and Shinpachi watched with horror-struck eyes as Kagura grabbed Canarie by the hand and began to drag her out of the park.

"Hey! Wait a min..." They were already gone...leaving them alone with the white beast panting behind them.

* * *

Shinpachi and Gintoki jumped the fence out in the middle of the street and screamed out in the voice of pure terror as Sadaharu chased after them.

"Watch out!" A car wasn't able to stop in time and ran right into them.

Lo and behold, it is the idiot prince himself, Prince Hata and his retainer Jii who stepped out of the car after running over all three of them.

"Old man! What's going on here!?" The idiot prince shouted and looked upon the murder scene.

"Please calm down." Ji then proceeded to stuff himself into the trunk. "W-we just h-have to find a t-time machine!"

"You calm down!" The then finally noticed Sadaharu lying unconscious on the ground. "This...how can this be!? Look at this!"

"Did you find a time machine!?"

"No, you idiot! This is an Inugami? Old man. Get me the rope!"

The hit and runners then started to tie Sadaharu up on the roof of their car as fast and took off, driving away from the mess they made and right past Kagura and Canarie who were now returning from the store with their sour and sweet snacks.

Canarie looked over her shoulder as the care drove by and saw a familiar white bluer on the roof. She blinked for a moment as her mind tried to make sense of what was just happening. "Isn't that...?"

* * *

"I really got something special this time around." The idiot prince said. "I had such a horrible experience the last time I was here. Right, old man?"

The hit and run driver nodded. "Of cours-Gyaahhh!" He screeched when Gintoki suddenly appeared on the windshield with an annoyed and pissed off grin plastered to his face.

"Yo. How about stopping the car, Mr. Hit and Run." Gintoki said while laying on the hood of the car. "Please forgive my dog. He'll be a good boy now on."

"Move it! I can't see the road!' Jii stuck his head out the window hen this howling shout started to get louder and louder from behind them. He looked back and saw a frightening Canarie and Kagura running at an inhuman speed at them. "Two girls wearing a chine dress and a pink hakama is running towards us super fast!"

The ran like the demon was right behind them, or maybe they were the demons themselves with how terrifying they looked. Their faces twisted with for the smell of blood and murder. It was even impressive that Kagura was mad enough to keep up with Canarie who was slowly reaching for the hilt of her sword.

"Give back Sadaharu!" Kagura barked.

Jii whipped out a gun and aimed it at the girls. "G-Go away!" He pulled the trigger and the bullet was fired. It ripped down it's twirling path as Canarie made a quick draw of her blade and sliced the bullet in two. "H-how the hell is that possible!?"

Kagura held her umbrella up and screeched at them at the top of her lungs, slamming it against the side of the car and sent it flying into a lake. She stopped when this chill ran over her when she realized that Sadaharu was still on the roof.

"Sadaharu!"

It was too late though and the car disappeared below the lake. She collapsed to her hands and knees and started to cry. Yet again she lost another pet.

"Hey. Little girls." They looked up and saw Gintoki and Sadaharu sitting up in the tree. Safe and sound. "What are you crying about?" Sadaharu chomped down on his hand and he screamed. "Gyraaa! Canarie-sama!" He pleaded for her help.

Sadaharu jumped down right into Kagura's open arms. It immediately started to chew on her head.

"Enough with the sama already. It's starting to piss me off." Canarie tried her best to frown by the corner of her lips threaten to twitch upwards. "Fine, fine. Get down here and I'll give you another patch of bandages."

Gintoki clicked his tongue and slumped down on the floor as Canarie kneeled down in front of him. "Damn white beast." He complained as Kagura hugged her new pet. "Why the hell are you smiling?" He noticed from Canarie.

Damn. She thought she was hiding it but must have overlooked it. "Nothing really...I was just thinking..." She pulled out her bandages (That she always keeps on her now). Her eyes crinkled a bit and a smile stretch ear to ear. "You're not so bad as you probably think yourself to be."

There was something about that smile just now that made his heart swell and fill his whole body with warmth. For a moment he just wanted to smile along with it and feel the way she felt.

And you know what..?

He did smile back.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**As promised. Here is the next chapter, but remember, this story will no longer be posted weekly. It will be posted randomly. **


	12. Chapter 12 (Harusame Arc Part 1)

**KOGYARU OF JAPAN! OBEY YOUR CURFEW!**

It felt like it's been an eternity since the Yorozuya had a job to work. The work this time was a missing daughter that has been gone for a week. Shinpachi and Kagura were out as usual so Canarie had to drag Gintoki along who was currently hungover as shit. His skin was green and his eyes were heavy and blood-shot. You could tell he wasn't all there since he was pouring a glass of water into his lap instead of his mouth.

Canarie quickly grabbed the glass from the perm head and set it down back on the table. "You idiot..." She mumbled. "Can't you get it together? Shinpachi and I told you time and time again to stop drinking."

"What?" Gintoki spoke slowly and dryly. "Do you want me to survive on orange juice and milk like you do?" His eyes fell on her chest. "Your body's small but your breasts are big because you drink that stuff."

Canarie judo chopped him in the neck to spas him out. "If you talk about my boobs one more time, I swear I'll rip off the only thing that makes you a man." She wasn't lying. Her voice was to seething to be a joke, so Gintoki decided to shut his mouth. Canarie groaned and looked back at the worried father. "Sorry. Mind repeating what you said?"

The father looked a bit dumbfounded at their attitude and hesitated to continue. "There...have been times where she hasn't been home for 2 or 3 days. But for a week..." His voice shuddered with anxiety. "We asked her friends, but no one knows where she is... As a parent, she is a beautiful daughter...and I worry that she's mixed up in something." He gave them a picture of her.

Canarie and Gintoki looked down at the picture of the missing girl. A dark-skinned, chubby, pig-like girl.

Gintoki stared at the daughter with a dead look with his even deader fish eyes. "Canarie...is this a giant?"

Canarie actually looked fascinated by the picture and rubbed her chin in deep thought. "Perhaps the incident is that she's been mixed up in a ham-processing machine." She stated rather confidently.

"Oh, I see now. That makes sense." Gintoki, the idiot only approved.

The bunch of morons. Even for Canarie to say that shows that she wasn't all the serious in the case.

The father quickly cut in to save the shame of his pig daughter. "That's not the type of mixup I mean. I meant mixed up in some sort of incident." He clarified and Canarie looked a bit disappointed by the result. "What's with that look?"

"Nothing." She covered up her mistake. "We appreciate that you're offering us a job but are you sure we're the right ones for something like this? It seems pretty serious."

"I can't do something that excessive." He began to explain. "Our family works for the Tokugawa family of the Bakufu Administration. If my daughter's nightly activities were exposed, it would be a shame to the family. I want her to be brought back without a fuss."

* * *

Their investigation led them to an amanto populated night club/bar. The lights flickered, smoke filled the atmosphere and the amanto dance like they were having a seizure. It was the kind of place that our little Canarie was familiar with it and came to many times before in the past because of her former occupation.

"Long time no see, Canarie." The chicken bartender greeted Canarie with a wave as she came up smiling at the bar. "Haven't seen you around here for a while. Can I get you anything?"

"Nah. I ain't here to drink." She reached into her sleeve and pulled out the pig picture. "But you mind telling me if you've seen this pig-ah, I mean, girl?"

The chicken-tender (Chicken and bartender combined lol) looked at the picture for only a second before handing it back to quickly. "Sorry, Cana. I don't know this woman. I can't tell you earth-people faces apart. I only know yours because you came in here so often." He said. "You got a name?"

Canarie froze up when she made the extraordinary discovery that she never really asked about the daughter's name. "Nice seeing you," She said nothing more and walked off.

Gintoki was sat down at the couch with his head held back over the edge, drowning in his own misery and looking more green around the gills then ever before. He hasn't done anything all night to help and been hungover off his rocker the whole time being here. "Canarie~" He called out to her in a hopeless plea. "I'm not feeling so hot right now." He dropped his head in his hands and swear he was going to throw up. His skin felt like it was on fire.

Time and time again this man has been taking advantage of the fact that Canarie had a bit of medical knowledge and has been constantly asked because of help with it.

She groaned and marched over to him, yanking his head up to get a look at him. "You're hungover. What do you expect?" She ran her hand across his face and opened his mouth to check his tongue, the temperature of his forehead, and eye dilation.

Gintoki felt a little better because her hands were cold despite also being rough. It felt really comforting against his hot skin and he very slightly began to feel sleepy. Without much thinking, he dropped his head against her chest, much to Canarie's annoyance before she slapped the back of his head.

It was nice while it lasted.

For an extra sadistic mile, she purposely shook his head back and forth till he was green again. "Enough. I'll wait out here. You go to the bathroom and sit down for a few minutes to flush everything out." She ordered.

Gintoki dragged himself up away from her cold and comfortable hands and slouched his way to the bathroom like a zombie. "Thank you, Canarie..." he said and disappeared into the bathrooms.

Canarie sighed and stepped back, accidentally bumped into someone. She turned around and was faced down with an intimidating amanto wearing full black. "Sorry..." She said firmly and knew, just by looking at this guy...that he was a killer.

The amanto dusted off his clothes and glared down at Canarie through the thick frames of his glasses. "Girl...watch where you're going." His said coldly and Canarie only narrowed her eyes at him. He said nothing more despite the obvious killer instincts he felt coming from her and left as quick as he appeared.

Canarie watched the guy with dark eyes and felt a shiver run under her skin. It was ice cold. That man was something different like he was here on a 'particular' business plan. She knew that right now probably wasn't the best time to stick around and felt as though something was off in the air. At the time, she thought the walls were getting closer and closer together and the voices sounded distorted, but that unsettling feeling vanished when she heard the sound of a heavy thud of a body dropping.

She spun her head around and saw a man of ham statue collapse to the ground with a lazy grin on his face. "What the..." She kneeled down beside him and noticed that he definitely wasn't drunk, so why?

"Ah...geez." The chicken-tender noticed and walked over to them. "Don't bother, Canarie. I'll take care of this," he said with annoyance in his voice and began to pick up the ham boy. "This is bad for business, people dropping here and there."

That caught Canarie's attention and a pit formed in her abdomen. "What do you mean. Looks like a drug, but I never saw one that done this before."

"It's a new one on the streets. It's pretty bad shit so you be careful too." He carried the drugged ham boy away.

Canarie's lips stretched thin. "New drug, huh?" That may explain a lot.

The heavy and uneasy feeling that was circling this part of town smelled bad, like an illegal business with the wrong kinds of people bad. Edo was full of amanto with bad intentions so it wouldn't be surprising to cook up a new drug, but if that was the case, then the pig-girl may be in deeper then she would have wished. Gone for a week. You can't say another wise that she hasn't been taking a fair amount of hits from this new drug.

"Shit." Canarie clicked her tongue and whipped her head to scan the bar with her eyes to find her perm head but no dice.

The idiot was still in the bathroom? After all this time?

Canarie felt her body become ridged when a cocking sound of a gun caught her ears. She felt the barrel nudge the back of her head as all sound of the club faded out to nothing. She let out an annoyed sigh. "Damn...I mad a mistake." She looked over her shoulder and saw a group of amanto leering down at her with weapons drawn towards her.

"Hey brat, are you the one that was sniffing around?" One of them said in a rough voice.

She rolled her eyes and spoke utterly calm to them, not a single tinge of fright in her heart. "Who are you guys?" She said flatly.

"Don't play dumb. You have been nosing around here for a while. If you don't know, then let us teach you...the fearsomeness of the space pirates of the Harusama!"

Harusama. Of course. It all made sense now to her. So these nasty fellows were involved.

Canarie was quiet for a solid minute before she spoke. Her voice was crystal clear but cold. "Fearsome? Are you seriously threatening me?"

All it took was a second and it didn't even look like she moved. There was a quick drawn and a silver flash that struck their chest and arms. Blood splatted and misted the air in a fraction of the time before their limbs fell to the ground. They scream in bloody-murder and confusion since it only took an instant. Just a single second for her to attack.

Canarie sighed. Her sword making a clicking sound of it casually being pulled out. "Looks to me that you're the ones who are in the wrong part of town, you brats." Canarie's eyes shifted to a hungry blood-lust that shrank the bravery in these pirates. "This is my territory you're running amok in."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**I have returned, stronger than ever with more confidence and motivation! Time to hit it off with a bloodbath. Muahahaha!**

**And I have to say to all the people who have supported this story till now and reviewed it. It is thanks to you that this chapter came out. You all are just...absolutly brilliant! You really saved me and made me believe that this story can go far! The updates will still be slow but I will not fail you...because I have a hell of a lot of good plans for this story. Canarie's story is only just beginning.**


	13. Chapter 13 (Harusame Arc Part 2)

**ONLY DIRTY THINGS ARE BORN IN THE WASHROOM**

The chicken-tender popped a cigarette out from his shirt pocket and lit the end up, hazing his vision with a thick veil of smoke and totally ignoring all the carnage and screaming happening behind him. The Harusame squealed in bloody-murder as blood painted the walls with an oozing red, while body parts were thrown over the counter in front of the chicken-tender.

"Dammit...I just had the counters cleaned too." He huffed out a thick cloud of smoke.

Canarie flung the blood off her sword and stood in the middle of the dance/blood floor with an annoyed looked resting on her face. She groaned deeply and looked over her shoulder at the terrified Harusame who just witness a massacre.

The woman was untouchable. They go near her and body parts and blood start flying before they could even see her blade move. And when she wasn't moving fast, she was agile enough to stay out of reach. Was she even human? It felt like their weapons were phasing right through her body. It was almost like she was a ghost, and not just that, her whole persona seemed twisted in a way. Her face hasn't changed at all since the blood began to fall. Her eyes were empty and her lips were stretched thin, almost as if she was bored or bothered by their presence. Not threatened.

They were outgunned...by a single small woman.

"Are we done here?" Canarie spoke. "Because I would like to find my silver-haired samurai and get the hell out of here." She twisted her body around, sheathing her sword and making a break for the bathrooms.

The Harusame took a moment to react. "A-After her! Don't let her get away!" They shouted

The pirates took chase to the woman while one amanto stood back. He reached into his coat and pulled out what looked to be a gun of some sort.

He smirked. "I'd like to see you dodge this." He snickered with himself and followed his men after the ghost-like woman.

* * *

Gintoki carried the ham-woman outside the washroom and saw that they were surrounded by armed and scary Harusame.

Gintoki cracked a joke. "Hey, hey, is everybody happily going to the washroom together? There aren't enough urinals." He said. He directed his gaze across the sea of scary looking amanto and saw Canarie's small figure skidded around the edge and immediately honed her eyes in on his silver perm, like a beacon of some sort. "Canarie?" He said.

Her eyes lit up. "Ginto-" She suddenly stiffed her body as this shock ripped through her veins as if acid was injected. Electricity sparked up and she let out a sharp shriek as her body crumbled to the ground, wires embedded in her back from a stun gun.

"Finally. We got her." A group of amanto walked around the corner, one holding a taser in his hand that attached to the wires in Canarie's back. "What the hell...she's still conscious?"

It wasn't much but Canarie's body was twitching very slightly and her eyes were wide open. Her skin was burned and her hair was smoking a bit too.

Gintoki felt as if his own body was suddenly shocked by a taser too. It was electric at first, then it just started to burn. "Cana..." He grit his teeth. "The hell do you think you're doing to her, you little shits!" He screeched his lungs raw.

"You're an eyesore."

The captain of the Harusame troop suddenly jabbed his sword into Gintoki's shoulder and shoved him up to the window, shattering it and throwing him and the ham-girl out of the building and disappearing into the deep darkness.

Canarie's fingers began to clench tightly. "Gin..toki..." Unfortunately, her body had no strength left in it to fight and her world turned black.

* * *

_The world was a solid, unbreakable black that was filled to the heavens with smoke and bloody mist. The floor, or the muck, was covered in bodies of Gintoki's fallen comrades who remained motionless. __Gintoki dragged his feet as he shuffled through the battlefield or slaughterfield with a woman strolled beside him, the woman being none other than the one who had always haunted his dreams. _

_Kurojina Kashira._

_"You can't save them all." She spoke in a ghostly whisper. "Sometimes you can...most times you cannot."_

_Gintoki's voice was low and gravely, void of emotion and life. "I know...I guess saving you was out of the question, huh?" He said in a monotone voice, yet his eyes refused to meet her brown ones._

_Kashira took in a deep breath and stopped walking beside him, no longer able to follow besides him, for her time had already long since past. "Yeah, sure seems like that...but know this, Gintoki." Her lips fought a frown and were replaced with a smile. "What happened to me...was not your fault. No one could have seen that coming...and neither did I."_

_Gintoki stopped with his endless march and turned around. Empty. Nothing was behind him now. No bodies, no friends, no Kashira. His best friend was gone and he knew that more than anyone, but he knew that her fate could have been twisted and changed...she could have been saved...he could have saved her. She could have returned home to her little sister...Canarie..._

* * *

Gintoki's eyes shot opened and he quickly sat up...in a bed? He was in a bed, in a room he had never been in before.

Okay, now he was confused.

The door slowly slid opened and Katsura walked in, quietly closing it behind him. "It's unusual for you to have something like a nightmare. Did you have a dream about the past or something?"

Gintoki stared at him with blank eyes. "Zura? What the hell are you...?" His mind suddenly flashed to Canarie and realized she was still missing. "Canarie!?" he made an effort to get out of bed when a sharp pain shot through his body and he fell flat on his face.

"It's best not to push yourself. On top of not being able to use your left arm, you seem to have broken most of your ribs." He gestured to the ham-girl who laid unconscious across the room. "The person over there seems to be more severely injured. Because you shielded her, she doesn't have any external wounds. She has been drugged. She may have been disabled to the point of death."

Gintoki sat up and held his throbbing head. "Damn brat. So she was taking them," he said.

"Speaking of which, what the hell were you doing at a place like that?"

"Speaking of which, why did you save me? Speaking of which, apologize from earlier, you bastard!" He shot back.

Katsura turned more serious and pulled out a small plastic bag filled with white powder. "Speaking of which, do you know what this is?" He asked. "It's a drug that's been distributed on the black market called 'Tenseikyou'. It's made from a special plant that they say only grows on a remote border world. Even a whiff of this will bestow a strong sense of pleasure, the strength of the addictive qualities can't be matched."

Gintoki cocked a brow. "How do you know this?"

"My team and I were gathering information on it. It was there that you fell. If my comrade had not been there, who knows what would have happened. Speaking of which, why were you in a place like that?"

"Speaking of which, who the hell are those guys anyway?" he referred to the wannabe gangster-looking amanto.

"Harusame. Space pirates. The crime syndicate said to be the biggest in the galaxy. For them to be able to corner you like that...they seem to be quite a formidable opponent. This may be a bit premature." Katsura looked up and saw Gintoki heading to the door and grabbing his yakuta on the way. "Hey, were you listening."

"Doesn't really matter who they are," Gintoki said and slung his yakuta over his shoulder. "They took Canarie so now I gotta save her ass." He spoke in a bored tone but his words hid a deeper meaning that Katsura noticed.

"You really think you can win with that body? Tell me, Gintoki. Are you saving her just because she's Kashira's little sister?"

Gintoki stopped and leaned against the sliding door. "Well...I thought that at first, thinking that I need to look after her because I was responsible for Kashira's death, but that ain't it."

Kasura furrowed his brows. "What is it then?"

Gintoki took in a deep breath of air and gave Katsura a small wave before walking off. "That pain-in-the-ass, sharp-tongued brat. Kashira has nothing to do with it. I'm getting her back just because it's Canarie."


	14. Chapter 14 (Harusame Arc Part 3)

**IF YOU'RE GOING TO COSPLAY, PUT YOUR HEART INTO IT**

Canarie stared with a cocked eyebrow of pure and honest CONFUSION! "I'm sorry...what?" She couldn't even help the annoyance in her voice when she spoke to the three amantos standing in front of her. Her arms were bound by a rope behind her back and Canarie was brought back to their ship, whatever it was docked at. All that was the least of her concern with what these guys just dropped on her.

"You're a member of the Jyoueshi, are you." It wasn't a question. They were saying it like a fact.

"Jyoueshi?" she had to repeat to make sure. It would make sense why they haven't killed her yet though.

One of the amanto smirked and waved his knife around in front of him in a weak act to intimidate her. "If you tell us where your base is, then we wouldn't have to beat you up."

Deal of the century that they think they're making. They probably wanted Katsura since he and his men are the ones responsible for interfering with the amantos business in the first place. They were probably trying to figure out where the source of the drugs came from. Well lo and behold, of course, it was the Harusame who was behind the transportation of the drugs.

Getting stuck in this mess because of a stupid girl who didn't know better. Now Canarie was trapped in a ship, while Gintoki was probably bleeding out in a dumpster alleyway right now. She closed her eyes for a moment then sighed. She stared at them for a long time with her lips as tight as a clam. It's not like she wouldn't sell Katsura and them out in a heart-beat...she just doesn't know where they're base is to do so. So she's screwed either way, but upon close inspection, it didn't seem to be the case. She noticed that one of the amanto had something in his hand, something that looked awfully familiar.

That bastard kept her sword.

The amanto up front seemed to have grown with annoyance when Canarie kept her mouth shut. "So you ain't gonna speak, huh." His knife hand began to shake as he gripped it tightly. "Well, let's see how long you keep your mouth shut after this!"

He glided his blade back and chucked it at the defenseless woman who was still bound by the arms. The knife made a loud clanging sound upon impact and her head was blown back. He saw her eyes go wild when she suddenly snapped her head back down, clenching the knife between her teeth. Her lips were cut a bit and had blood dripping down her chin.

"That's..." his breath got caught in his throat and he choked on it. Her eyes were deranged looking and like the hottest fires collided with the harshest winters.

Canarie got up from the ground and cocked her head to the side. She spat the knife out and began to balance it on the tip of her leather boot. She tossed the knife in the air and then suddenly kicked it. The blade tumbled through the air and stuck right into the amanto's neck, rightfully returning his weapon to him.

She scoffed when his body dropped and the last two amanto took a fighting stance. "Now are we gonna stick around all day? I got places to be, things to do...idiots to meet," she growled out her words.

"T-Take her down!"

The amanto holding her sword drew it quickly and charged with it held up. He tried to cut her down but Canarie suddenly doubled her head back and the blade flew right over her. She shot her leg up and struck the palm of his hand and released her partner at long last. The sword swung in the air and stabbed itself in the ground. The amanto gasped from shock and yanked his hand back when Canarie casually walked over to her sword and sliced the rope right off her hands. She gripped the handle tightly and looked back to the last two amanto who stared at her bewildered as her eyes became bloodshot.

* * *

"Captain!" a group of amanto ran onto the flight deck where Daraku was waiting. "We have an emergency!" they shouted in a distressed voice with their faces drained of color.

Daraku eyed his men. "You looked like you just seen a ghost. What's the emergency?"

"T-The human woman we captured...she's gone! Leaving behind slain bodies too." They sucked in a deep breath to stop the shivering. When they went to change shift with the guys that were originally watching her, they walked upon a bloodbath with all three of their mates cut up with their body parts, entrails and such laying scattered across the floor like crappy Halloween decorations. Canarie was nowhere to be found and her weapon was gone too.

Daraku's eyes slowly began to widen. "What?"

* * *

Canarie dragged her blade across the ground as blood dripped off it, mixed with all different colors of blue, red and green. She sighed deeply and looked over her shoulder at the hallway riddled with bodies. No mercy was held in her eyes despite the blatant massacre and difference in strength. These amanto were no match for Canarie who had more than enough experience in murder and silent assassinations.

Getting out of the ship was one thing that Canarie could do in seconds, but with these kinds of dangerous drugs totally muck up Kabuki-cho was something she wouldn't stand for. This was Kashira's home, her territory. Just the thought of these amanto doing whatever the hell they wanted on her planet not only aggravated her but made her heart clench and burn with resentment. She wasn't going to leave unless every single last one of these blue-blood bastards were dead.

She continued to drag herself down the hallway until she saw a light at the end that the lead to the outside. She smelled seawater and knew now that they had to be over water, but all she was met with was the barrels of multiple guns and a long line of amanto glaring down at her with their weapons raised. "Ah, shit..." she groaned and clenched her sword tightly. Canarie could still fight them but she was at a bit of a disadvantage because of the taser from earlier. Her body would jolts with pain every so often and made her joints lock up. She clicked her tongue and held her sword up in front of her. "Fine, bring it on. I'll send you all to hell myself," she growled but also prayed that her luck would hold up because she wasn't going to stop.

"Waaaait!" a voice screeched in the air that sounded oddly familiar and made Canarie's heart speed up. "Hooold it! Hold it! Hold it!" Gintoki swung alongside the ship with a rope in his hand and flew up to the deck...crashing right into Canarie. They both struck against the railing. "Ow, ow, the wound opened up!" Canarie's fist suddenly shot up and punched him right in the chest. He hunched over in pain. "You bitch..." He quivered when Canarie pushed his body off her.

Canarie sat up. She noticed that he was dressed like a pirate with a fake scar running down his face. "Nice superhero landing, you idiot. Next time, don't land on the person you're trying to save!" she hissed through her teeth but that was only to hide the smile she fought against her lips.

Daraku narrowed his eyes at the man. "You were alive?" he remarked since the last time he saw Gintoki, he was falling to his death.

Gintoki cocked a brow and looked up. "Huh? Sorry, I only came to pick up this one here." He pointed down at Canarie.

A ship suddenly made a hard jolt and started to rumble below their feet. Smoke poured out of the cracks and the crew ran out of the hold, screaming to their captain.

"Captain! The Tenseikyou!" they shouted about the fire that burned up all their merchandise.

Katsura stood at the top of the ship with two bombs in his hands, dressed like a pirate with an eyepatch. "I got what I came for, and Gintoki got what _he_ came for. You and Canarie can do whatever you want now."

Daraku clenched his jaw and he met the eyes of the Jyoueshi leader. "You're...Katsura!"

"Wrong!" he announced and leaped high in the air. "I am Captain Katsura!" Katsura threw his bombs down on top of the amanto crew so they wouldn't get in Gintoki and Canarie's way.

Order was completely out the window now. The drugs were on fire and the ship was going down along with its crew, all in a blaze of glory too. All because of these three humans who had no influence on the government or the Shogun. They were just persistent nobodies.

Daraku stood before Gintoki and Canarie. "You guys are done for. You completely made an enemy out of the Harusame. Now all of us scattered throughout the universe will come to kill you." he said while adjusting his glasses and clenching his sword.

Canarie cocked a brow and glanced to Gintoki. "Who gives a shit. And besides, the ones who are done here are you guys." They both began to pull their swords out and point it at not only Daraku, but the whole Harusame out there who dared take another step out of the space-hole.

"Listen up, assholes," Gintoki smirked. "I don't care what you punks do around the universe. But with this, our swords...anywhere it can reach, is part of our country!"

"You best be careful where you step, amanto. 'Cause Ghosts can strike anywhere once you step into their playground." Canarie smirked like the devil and got into position.

They both charged at once at each other and a loud clanking noise of metal hitting metal echoed in their ears. They stood on opposite sides of one another with their swords out in a swinging manner.

Daraku scoffed. "You two...for a runt who doesn't wash his hands in the washroom, and a brat who does whatever the hell she wants...you're pretty sharp, aren't...you." His body crumbled to the ground as his last words slipped from his mouth.

* * *

Canarie felt her joints lock up again when an electric jolt flooded her veins. She let out a yelp and stopped dead in place on the docks. "Ow! Son of a..." she groaned and felt her joints loosen again. She sighed and cracked her neck to the side and finally felt the adrenaline rush leave her body.

Gintoki rolled his eyes and kept walking. He looked back at her and noticed that she stopped moving. "Will you hurry it up. I wanna go home today, you know."

"Then freaking go home without me, you whiny little baby!" she cut in and rolled her eyes. Canarie wasn't in the mood since she was just now starting to feel the strain on her body.

"Fine! It's not like I was expecting a 'thank you' for saving you ass anyways!" he moped but still wasn't moving to leave her behind.

"I didn't need saving!" She crossed her arms over her chest and stood her ground. "I could've gotten out of that mess by myself!"

"Maybe I shouldn't have come in the first place!" Gintoki shouted back at her and they proceeded to yell at each other from across the docks. "All you did was punch me in the chest and made my wound open up!"

"You're wound opened up because you're a simple-minded piece of shit that doesn't know how to take his own health into consideration!"

"Oh, you're the one to talk! Miss Kabuki-cho Ghost!"

"Says the idiot with a dumb name like Shiroyasha!" Canarie waved her hand off at him. "What are you waiting for? Get on home!"

Gintoki's eyes began to twitch. "Fine!"

"Fine!"

"Good!"

"Good!"

Katsura watched them from afar while twirling his eyepatch in his hand. Gintoki and Canarie continued to walk side by side the whole way home while head-deep in a heated argument like an old married couple. "I wonder if Kashira would be happy to see this...two no-good brats."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Do I think this is a good chapter? It could be better honestly, but I felt like I owed it to you all for waiting. Still, I hope you enjoyed some aspects of this chapter and the slight difference it took from the original. Hopefully, I'll have more motivation to write the next one.**

**But yeah, she could be thankful that he came to save her, kinda, but that just ain't our little Canarie, you know. It kinda seems more fitting for them to argue about the stupidest shit the whole way home. It's more in Gintama's style.**

**Thank you, everyone, for being patient with me and I hope to see you all next time! **


	15. Chapter 15 (Gengai Arc Part 1)

**DO YOU REALLY THINK YOU CAN STUDY FOR THE EXAM WHILE LISTENING TO MUSIC!? JUST CUT IT OUT ALREADY!**

The sun burned her eyes when she stepped out into the open world from the darkness of the Yorozuya office. Canarie groaned with annoyance and stepped down the stairs after getting a laundry list of things to do while in town. Gintoki and them when over to Gengai's shop via an order from Otose since he's made more than enough racket to let the whole world know. Everyone's at their breaking point with that old man, so they went to storm his shop or whatever to deal with him. Unlike Canarie, she had to go out because it was her turn to pick up the groceries. She didn't have to get much. Just some toilet paper, Kagura's sour seaweed, and Gintoki's strawberry milk.

Canarie quickly dipped into the shop and scanned the aisles as quick as she could to find her prizes. A festival was in town tonight so she wanted to hurry up and get done so she could go home and get ready. "Let's see...strawberry milk...strawberry milk...strawberry milk," she mumbled and ran her hand across the cartons of milk till she finally found what she was looking for. "I seriously don't know why he likes this stuff." Canarie frowned while grabbing one roll of toilet paper and a bag of seaweed on her way to the counter. There she saw a man standing in front of it trying to buy a jar of sake, probably for the festival tonight. Better time than any to get sloshed, she figured and waited behind him.

This man was rather short and had black-ish purple hair that was covered by a wide-brimmed straw hat. He also wore a purple yakuta with a golden butterfly design on it. What Canarie really noticed was that he had a sword at his hip. It didn't have a handguard on it so you could mistake it for something else if you weren't paying attention all that much. She wondered if he worked for the Bakufu if he had a sword with him. Then again, she's a former assassin and still secretly carried one herself, so who was she to judge.

"I'm sorry, sir. But you're still short." The cashier said after counting out the cash he was given.

"Seriously?" the man scratched the back of his head. His voice was surprisingly menacing and low too. Just the way it sounded gave Canarie the creeps. He sighed deeply and searched through every pocket he had to find just a couple more yen to give.

Canarie tapped her foot impatiently on the ground before groaning in defeat. She dug into her pocket and fished out the right amount. She reached past the man and slammed her hand down on the counter, shocking the cashier since he didn't see her small figure behind him. "Here. It's the right amount, right?"

The cashier quickly gathered up the loose change and counted it out as quick as he could. "Ah, uh, yes. Thank you, ma'am," he said and dropped the yen into the drawer. "Have a good day, sir. Enjoy the festival."

"Thanks." the man grabbed the loose rope from the jar and walked out of the store with his sake slung over his shoulder.

Canarie cocked a brow at the dude and stepped up to the counter to pay for her things. It's not like she was often paid at the Yorozuya, but her previous occupation had left her a decent sum of money. Which is why she's looking forward to the festival. She had money to spend and was planning on getting just as sloshed as the dude from before. Canarie wrapped up her purchases in a plastic bag and waved the cashier off. She stepped outside into the crowded streets that had everyone hard at work, getting ready for tonight. There were takoyaki stands being set up as well as cheap stupid games as well.

"Hey," the smooth and intimidating voice from before said. Canarie looked to her left and saw the man standing outside the shop with his sake still in hand. Surprisingly he wasn't drinking yet.

"Oh, uh...don't worry about paying me back, man. Let's just say it's the spirit of the festival that made me do that." she waved him off.

"So you weren't just being impatient and wanting me to leave?" he gave this uncanny chuckle that even made Canarie laugh a bit.

"Well, you're one sharp son of a bitch." she smiled faintly. "I'd figured you were gonna get drunk before the party even started."

"Nah, not yet. There's...something I wanna witness before that happens." he shook his head, eyes still obscured by the wide brim of his hat. "Was that your plan though?"

Canarie shrugged. "Pretty much. Seems like a better time than any." She made a gesture with her hand down the streets. "Hey, look man. I gotta go, but you have a good day and enjoy the festival."

The man grabbed the brim of his hat and lifted it up a bit and she finally saw what was beneath his hat. He was not that bad-looking, to be honest, but what she found strange was the bandages around his forehead and left eye. His right eye had an odd vibe though. It was frightening and cold, a feeling that Canarie can only describe as...bloodlust. Like her own 'Assassin mode'. She was shocked by his strange demeanor and stepped back becase her own instincts were yelling at her.

He seemed to have noticed Canarie's own bloodlust seeping into her eyes as a defensive mechanism. He chuckled again. "You're quite the scary little girl..." he said with his voice dripping with menace.

There was a standstill between them for a moment before Canarie broke eye contact with him. She backed away and hurried down the streets and disappeared into the crowd. The man stood there for a bit with a lazy and curious smile on his lips. "I haven't seen eyes like that since Kashira's." He dropped the brim of his hat down over his eyes and turned around, walking slowly into the crowd.

* * *

Canarie could feel her heart up in her throat and beating away in her ears like a drum. The only thing she could think of right now was, "What the hell.." she mumbled and glanced over her shoulder as she walked by the riverside. "Guy about scared the hell out of me..." It was honestly like looking into a mirror...so that is what her victims saw when she 'dispatched' them.

She clicked her tongue and slumped her shoulders when she suddenly heard kagura's shrill voice in front of her. Canarie looked up, expecting to see a small little girl but saw a giant robot instead. It took her a hot minute to see Kagura sitting on its shoulders.

"Wha...what the hell is this?!" Canarie exclaimed and stepped away from the giant.

"It's Saburo!" she said with a wide grin.

Canarie stared dumbfounded at what was in front of her. She directed her attention down to the river bank below and saw what looked to be a mountain of robot parts all stacked together. Gengai was down there along with Otose and the rest of the Yorozuya. It looked like they just moved his stuff further away so he wouldn't bother anyone.

"Gintoki!" she called out and slid down the hill. "The hell did you guys do?"

"Huh?" he began. "We just moved the racket away. He should be able to do whatever he wants now."

Gengai, the rusty-looking old man stared down at his hard work that was now in pieces. "But they're all in pieces...what the hell did you guys do!?" he suddenly collapsed to his knees. "What do I do! Now I won't make it to the festival!" he shouted to the heavens and the Yorizuta just stared at him, dumbfounded.

"Festival?" Gintoki and Shinpachi said.

Canarie cocked a brow. "You guys didn't know...?" she muttered.

"Tonight, there will be a festival for the 13 anniversary of the end of the Isolationary Laws. It's gonna be held in the terminal. Also, it appears that Shogun-sama himself will be there. I was ordered by the Bakufu to present my machinist art there."

Canarie bit down on her lips and realized the wrongdoing the Yorozuya had just done, but leave it to them to just walk away from the problem like it never happened.

"Oh, shit." Gintoki swept Canarie up over his shoulder so they could quickly escape the mess they made. "Canarie, I think you left the curry boiling."

"The what...Fu-" Canarie struggled to hold onto the bags as she was carried away by the silver-grade idiot.

Gengai watched as they left before huffing to himself. "What a crew...they're really messed up..." he said.

"Are you really gonna be alright?" Otose asked.

"I'll just have to work all day, and maybe I'll make it somehow."

"Not that, about your son." Otose noticed Gengai stiffen up. "Your son, wasn't he with the Bakufu. Since old people live long lives, it's better to quickly forget the bad things."

Gengai looked up to the robot that shared his son's same name. Saburo. "I already told you. These are my sons now," he said but his words seem to drift off with the old and rusty memories that began to resemble even him.


	16. Chapter 16 (Gengai Arc Part 2)

**TROUBLES AREN'T CAUSED BY BAD PEOPLE, THEY'RE CASED BY OVERJOYED PEOPLE**

In a flash, the fading blue sky was lit up with an arrangement of rainbow colors. The festival had begun and all of Edo became lively with people of all ages. The air also had a strange mixture of fried noodles and cotton candy, the stupid yet expensive food and game stands were flowing with cash, and almost half the population was already drunk off their asses. That including Canarie, of course. Her face was slightly flushed red and she had a dewy look in her ashy eyes. A grin crept to her face and she brought the jar of sake to her lips once more, watching the Yorozuya try and help Gengai finish his machines before the clock strikes 12.

Gintoki paused where he stood and sniffed the heavenly aroma in the air. He knew that smell and his heart and mouth craved the taste of that sweet, sweet treat of the nightlife. "That sweet smell is..." His eyes flashed open. "Cotton candy!" he shouted and began to make a mad dash for the festival that held his beloved treasure. He didn't make it far though when Canarie swept her leg to the side and dropped the silver idiot on the riverbank slope.

Canarie may be a tad bit tipsy but not overly drunk enough to the point to let that dumbass skip out on his work. That was the reason why she decided to stay there on the slopes and watch over them. She was making sure Gintoki didn't leave before his work was done.

"You little bitch!" Gintoki raged and held his bleeding nose that flowed like the Hoover Dam. "Why the hell are you even still here? You're taunting me, right? You're definitely taunting me." he pointed his mightly finger down at the small creature who continued to smile sheepishly.

Canarie rubbed the haziness away from her eyes. "No. I'm just waiting for you guys to finish. This is the first time I've been to a festival with a group, so I'm holding out," she explained.

Gintoki stiffened and bit down on his lips. He would have felt a bit of pride from that comment...when this thought came to mind. "Wait...then why aren't you helping out?" he squinted his eyes suspiciously.

She snorted and gave this weird chuckle. "I'm not the one who broke the robots. Clean up your own damn mess."

All the pride vanished from his body and his eyes twitched angerly. He fought this ever-growing desire to just smack that drunk and lazy grin right off her face, he doubted he would have been able to hit her though, even if she was drunk.

Shinpachi was just as frustrated too. The fireworks and smell of food were just so tempting. "Even though we came to help, we won't make it in time. The festival has already started," he said.

Gengai sat down in front of one of his robots and worked on the circuitry. "The mechanized show for the Shogun isn't until the evening. As long as we manage to get something ready by then, everything should be fine."

Gintoki sighed and slumped back into himself. "Canarie...I don't think we'll be going anywhere any time soon." he groaned.

"Yeah...but it's no fun to enjoy a festival by myself." Canarie looked up at him, her lips turning up into a genuine smile. It made Gintoki feel like someone was squeezing his heart.

He sighed and scratched the back of his head. "Suit yourself." He reached down and ruffled Canarie's hair before turning back around to get back to work. He felt reluctant to even do this but at the same time, he didn't want to disappoint her.

* * *

After the long agonizing hours made of sweat and swear words, a group of fully made robots stood on the riverbank. At this point in time, Canarie had already sobered up and her jug of sake ran dry from drinking the whole thing an hour ago.

"Somehow, we managed to do it. Although there are some problems here and there." Gengai said and stared up at this hard work. "If you guys hadn't been here, I wouldn't have been able to do it. You crazy bastards really went out of your way to help me."

Gintoki was more than a little ready to get on with the matter. "Don't act high and mightly, Pops! We were told by the old lady to come here, so we had no choice." he groaned with a deep roll of his eyes, checking to see how many brain cells he had left after the grueling hours of busting his ass.

Gengai suddenly tossed a pouch full of money at the Yorozuya. "Now it's time for the final maintenance. You guys will only get in the way, so run off to the festival now or something."

A new spark began to ignite in Canarie's ashy eyes. She got up off the ground, thankfully since it was beginning to hurt her butt. "Finally." She grabbed Gintoki and Shinpachi by their hands and started to drag them up the riverbank while Kagura ran ahead of them, followed by Saburo "Thanks for the cash!"

* * *

Kagura paraded happily around the festival on top of Saburo's broad metal shoulders, giving her a full view of the stunning and cheap attractions that included Gintoki and Canarie sitting in one of the outside bars with Gengai.

Gengai looked over his shoulders and watched his robot walk around with Shinpachi and Kagura. "You don't see that every day," he said. "Somehow, Saburo seems to be enjoying it too."

"He's probably happier than a certain solemn-faced old dude," Gintoki said dryly.

"Hmm...My son once said something similar."

Canarie blinked and pulled her sake cup away from her lips. "You have a son?" She was a bit confused since he had never mentioned it before until now.

"He's long since gone. He went to battle on his own and died on his own." Gengai said, a subtle shift turning in Canarie's eyes. "He loved machines as much as I did. Even though I told him it was dangerous, he would come to the factory on his own and mess around with them, that damn brat. Back then my inventions were crude and couldn't jump or sing. Now that I think about it, those days were probably the happiest ones of my life. In the past, we just trampled with machines simply because we loved them. Because I was called Edo's best inventor, those machines soon became the best way for me to make a living. My son, that bastard opposed to that. That's all." He set his drink down. "Oh yeah," he said like he suddenly remembered. "I've heard this from Otose...you were in the war too, right?"

That was a topic he felt a bit reluctant to chat about with Canarie around. Gintoki groaned and took a glance down at her and saw a stormy and distant look in her eyes. "Although you say 'war', it wasn't that big of a thing for me. 20 years ago, when the amanto arrived, samurai were still considered honorable. Back thenm though, I was still just a snot-nosed kid. After several years, though, the samurai started doing guerilla wars everywhere. And that's when all my friends started dying."

**SLAM!**

Gintoki jumped and about had a damn heart attack when Canarie suddenly slammed both her hands down on the table. Her face was contorted with anxiety and had an odd coldness to it. She took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself down before walking away, not uttering another word more. Gintoki watched her small figure disappeared into the crowd, kinda like a ghost.

Gengai cocked a brow. "What's her deal?"

Gintoki lowered his head and muttered his words just barely loud enough for Gengai to hear. "Ah...that's kinda a sensitive topic for her." He began to feel his heart speed up with anxiety.

"Did she lose someone too?" It was an innocent question but it hit harder than Gintoki thought.

He hesitated for a moment but nodded his head. "Yeah, uh, she...lost her older sister," Gintoki said and fell silent when Gengai suddenly asked this questioned that confused him.

"Do you ever think about getting back at the enemy?" The unexpected question took him by surprise. "There's nothing that can replace those who died... Don't you ever think about attacking the Bakufu or amanto for their sake?"

Gintoki was taken back for a while when that sudden question drop. He couldn't even say anything before Gengai suddenly got up and began to walk away. "Old man, you..." he called out.

"I'm heading back to finish the last adjustments," Gengai said. "Hey! Saburo, let's go!"

Gintoki started at the strange old man, letting his even odder question ponder in his head for a while, unable to come up with an answer.

* * *

Gintoki believed that he might have ruined the night for Canarie. He'll admit that he did feel a bit guilty for letting that war topic drag out longer than it needed too, and he did say a few crude words that might have upset his friend. She was gone for an hour when Gintoki decided to go looking for her, but his attention was soon turned to the sky. The darkness was lit up with colorful flashes from the fireworks Saburo was shooting up into the sky. The robots stood up on stage with Gengai in front, now dressed in formal attire.

Gintoki stared up at the glittering sky when a cold voice from behind made his heart stop and blood turn to ice.

"Yeah, festivals just aren't fun unless they're flashy." In a flash of fireworks, his dark shaded purple hair, intense eyes, and the bandages around his face were revealed.

The whole world seemed to have slowed down in that split second the sky lid up. The world darkened and Gintoki swiftly began to reach for his wooden sword when he felt something cold and sharp press up against his back.

"Don't move," Takasugi spoke coldly with a chuckle echoing from his words. "The famed Shiroyasha has let someone sneak behind him. Gintoki...have you become weak?"

"Nah...I was just looking for a ghost. What the hell are you doing here..." Gintoki narrowed his eyes and remained rather calm despite the sword pressed against him.

"Chill out and be quiet for a moment. An extremely entertaining show is about to begain...the father whose son was killed by the bakufu...is going to strike together with his machines."

Once the fireworks ended Gengai spoke up. "Saburo, let's go."

At the time, Canarie walked out from one of the inside soba shops and looked to the stage when she heard Gengai's voice.

"My pleasure." Saburo suddenly aimed his cannon arm up at the Shogun's hut right across from them.

Gengai pointed ahead. "Aim right for the Shogun's head!"

Canarie felt a harsh gust of wind blow right by her when an explosion coming from behind knocked her to the ground. Smoke began to fill the air and everyone ran screaming, running by the collapsed woman who was still disoriented by the explosion. Her hearing wasn't working anymore and all the noise around her sounded very echoey and hallow. It was hard to grasp on to reality for a moment but she finally opened her eyes to what was going on and what happened.

Friends and families ran screaming, the Shinsengumi was frazzled and confused, and all of Gengai's robots began to emerge from the smoke like some demented disaster demons.

"The hell's going on!?" Canarie waved the smokescreen away from her eyes when they suddenly lock on to Gintoki still figure among the mess of people. "Gin-" A sharp gasp escaped her lips and her eyes immediately turned deadly and cold when she saw who was standing behind him. Slowly...her hand reached behind her back and gripped her sword handle tightly.


	17. Chapter 17 (Gengai Arc Part 3)

**A FATHER AND SON ARE SIMILAR ONLY IN THE BAD THINGS**

Gintoki stood absolutely still with the pressure of an itchy blade at his back. He watched in silence as the crowd rushed past him in a screaming panic, desperate to get away from the line of fire and machines that trampled the once joyful festival.

"Do you remember, Gintoki," Takasugi asked him. "I led a volunteer cavalry army once. Kashira was apart of it, yeah, but there was also a man called Saburo there too. He was useless with a sword but good with seizing opportunities. 'I didn't come to fight in this war, but for one with my father," he used to say. He was a weirdo who would only ever talk about his old man. Eventually, that dude died, and never returned to his father. What a terrible story... Even though we desperately fought so hard to protect our country from the Amanto... The high-and-mighty Bakafu was quick to shower the Amanto with flatteries. Fearing our relation with the Amanto, they quickly cut all ties with us samurai. And without giving any gratitude to the cavalry, they set on a political purge to destroy any remaining bitterness... Looking at the head of his son, in the riverside...it's not hard to imagine what was going through his head."

"Takasugi, the one who inspired the old man was you...?" Gintoki said rather calmly.

The mad-man scoffed. "Don't be stupid. I could see those potential 'fangs' of his. I just told him to sharpen them." He began to grit his teeth. "With Kashira's death...I can sympathize with the old man's suffering." A trace of affection with yet bitterness was in his voice when he mentioned her name.

Gintoki narrowed his eyes. "I see your ass is still bitter about what happened to Kashira. We're lucky her head didn't end up on a table like Saburo."

That comment caused Takasugi's hands to tremble. "Is that supposed to make me feel better? What happened to her was far worse. Don't forget this, Gintoki...her death was your fault...her blood is on your hands." He said in a low shaking whisper.

Gintoki swallowed hard and could feel the hatred radiating off his old comrade like intense heat. "We all carry some deep shit with us, Takasugi. You and I more than others. But what really surprised me is that you forgot one little detail about Kashira." He turned his head to the side and smirked. "You forgot she had a sister."

Takasugi's heart began to pulsate and throb until it suddenly skyrocketed with a spike of adrenaline. His eyes grew wide when he felt this hair-raising sensation against his back just when a large shadow hovered over him, a coldness running under his skin like a thousand needle pricks. He pulled out his sword and swung at whoever was behind him until...CLANK! His sword made contact with another blade.

Behind him was the small-framed woman with eyes as wild as a beast, bloodshot and deranged. Canarie was practically animalistic, bloodlust oozing out of her pores with a deep intensity. It was surprising that she could contain such strong murderous instincts inside her small body.

Gintoki took the time while Takasugi was distracted to break away from the scene and take off where Gengai was. "Thanks, Canarie!" he shouted back at her and waved.

"Did that idiot seriously just Leave me alone with a genocidal psychopath?" Canarie cringed with the sound of her sword scraped hard against his. She broke away from him and jumped back to get some distance.

Looking at this guy, she understood why he suddenly gave her the creeps a couple of hours ago. The look in his eyes was spine-tingling and his own bloodlust was identical to hers. Canarie now knew what it felt like to be on the opposite end of those kinds of eyes.

Takasugi laughed a bit when he recognized the woman from the store, the one who bought his sake to get him out of the line. "I thought you said you were going to get drunk," he asked.

"Sobered up pretty damn quickly because of the ruckus. No thanks to you, I assume." She cocked her head to the side and scowled at him. "You owe me 1800 yen, you prick."

He grinned wildly at her spiky nature. It reminded him hugely of Kashira and the way she would ack, though it was somewhat different. Kashira would try to be a graceful lady but had the short temper of a firecracker, so it never ended well. He could see the strong resemblance between her and Canarie with their rough way of speaking, not only that but the way they positioned themselves with their weapon too. It was completely identical.

A nostalgic smile fell upon him. "Canarie...huh? Let's see if you're as capable as I expect you to be." He clenched his sword hand tightly, the grin on his face widening with every passing second.

Silence fell between them as smoke flooded the area. Their figures disappeared inside the smoldering haze before loud footsteps rushed off. Swords clashed against each other and sparked erupted within the smoke as they collided, enveloped in a world of their own creation and entertainment.

* * *

Gengai stood at the presentation platform with Saburo as the chaos continued around the festival grounds. "Now for the real ammunition." He began to load Saburo's metal arm with real bullets. "Aim well, Saburo."

"My pleasure." the robot replied.

"Hiraga-san." Shinpachi suddenly walked up to them and stood in their way. "Why are you doing this?" he questioned. "Shogun-sama already ran away, can't you see that? Please stop this already!" his pleading words fell on deaf ears against Gengai.

The old man remained unfazed. "Is that so...I can't see because my sight's gone bad." He then continued to loaded Saburo up with real ammunition. "Whatever. I'll just aim it t the Shinsengumi instead then."

"Hiraga-san!"

"My, my, what a dangerous show you've put on here." A voice suddenly cut through the barrier of smoke, but instead of a white demon stepping through, it was a silver samurai who took its place, all while sporting a lazy smile to match. "What is this, a hero show or something? I hope you'll let me be the hero since our little Canarie is a bit tied up right now."

Gengai scoffed. "Both of you will never make it as actors. Outta the way!" His voice was deep with a seething anger that had built up over years and years of nothingness.

"Well, you're writing the script, so you aren't gonna go and get cheap with your actors, are you? I won't even feel like attacking the enemy now, anyway." His jaw tightened. "Saburo's crying," he said somberly.

"Which Saburo?"

Gintoki stared at the tall bot who's eyes were seemingly an empty black, holding not even a spark in them. "Whichever. No one wishes for this. You should know that more than anyone, right?"

"I understand. But at this stage, there's nothing to do but grin and bear it. Seeing my son like that, I was left alone as a senile old fool. Forced to look at all the things I can never get back... I'm tired of this life." his voice was flat but his words were deep enough to understand what was swirling around in his dusty old head. "I don't give a shit about the head of the shogun. There's nothing that can be done for those who are dead... I understand that a hundred times over. I just wanna die moving forward with all I've got. So outa my way! I won't show you any mercy if you interrupt me further."

Gintoki's eyes narrowed very slowly and for once his voice was firm. "Not happening. I have to keep moving forward too, with all I've got."

The surrounding smoke filled their lungs with every breath they took until an intense burning sensation spread throughout their whole body. Gintoki exhaled the smoke quickly and grabbed the handle of his wooden sword just as Gengai's voice belted out an order.

"Fire!"

Saburo lifted his arm the moment Gintoki charged at him. He froze though and slowly lowered it against Gengai's wishes. Gintoki didn't stop though despite the shock and swung his sword against the bot's body and destroyed his core. Saburo crumbled to the ground in a fury of scrap metal and smoke.

"Saburo!" Gengai cried out desperately and fell at his bot's broken body. "You idiot! Why didn't you shoot!"

Saburo spoke through a broken voicebank. "...D...Dad..." his words cut in and out. "Your...oily...back...happily...machines...you...loved. Just like...a child...happily...covering himself...in...mud." It was very small and only lasted for a second, but there was a subtle spark in Saburo's empty black eyes...before nothing. Silence flowed the cold mechanical parts.

Gengai sat still on the ground with his broken machine laid in his arms. "What do I do now...? How am I suppose...to go on living?"

Gintoki chewed the inside of his cheek and looked around, seeing all the machines that were left shut themselves down. "Who knows? Isn't it nice just having a long life?"

Through the fading smoke, Canarie small-stature finally emerged. She looked fine from where he stood but there was an obvious large cut running from her nose down her cheek, as well as a couple of other cuts around her legs and arms.

Canarie looked up and met his worrying gaze. She provided an exhausted but at ease smile that didn't quite reach her ears, giving a subtle wave that told him that she was fine...but that Takasugi has disappeared amongst the chaos.

* * *

Takasugi flinched when he felt his face began to sting suddenly. He glided his hand across a fresh cut over his cheek, a courtesy he got from the Ghost of Kabuki-cho, Canarie Manakoto herself. He heard the legend of the ghost but never expected it to be her, Kashira's own sister. It made sense though with how fast she attacked, seemingly disappearing before his eyes. The only reason he was able to break off from that fight was because the robots involved themselves and distracted Canarie, giving him the opportunity to slip away unnoticed.

"Looks like you failed," Katsura's smooth voice said beside him. It was broad daylight but he cleverly disguised himself as a monk to hide from the Shinsengumi.

"An unexpected problem came up." He rolled his eyes but fought back an excited grin. "I never took Kashira's little sister into consideration, and that fact that their fighting style was exactly the same surprised me. It was a terrible miscalculation but also an exciting discovery."

Katsura cast a worrying glance towards him. "You really are a beast, Takasugi. Do you really hold no sympathy for Canarie? After all, you and Kashira were..."

"Not anymore." Takasugi cut in. "That relationship died when she did. Now that she's gone...I don't have anything to protect anymore, so I'm fine with being a beast." He tipped up his wide-brimmed hat and began to walk off. "Kashira's dead...so there's no one left to stop me. I'll continue to crush everything...until the beast ceases its growling."

Katsura watched as Takasugi drifted into the crowd, soon disappearing like he was nothing but a specter.


	18. Chapter 18 (Rengokukan Arc Part 1)

**GRAB YOUR DREAMS WITH YOUR FISTS**

It was the most dangerous situation Gintoki had ever placed himself into. No fight nor war could ever come close to this heart-racing moment, that if he messed up...could most certainly lead to his gruesome demise. He was sweating up a storm and was holding his breath the whole time, careful not to give away his location as he went in.

He got down on all fours and reached his hand to the door in front of him, sliding it open just a crack and peeking in. Everything was dark and there wasn't much inside. A futon, some spare clothes laying on the floor, and a white-sheathed sword sitting against the wall.

Canarie wasn't inside.

Gintoki squinted his eyes and looked puzzled. He swore she was in her room, which would give him the chance at long last...to peek in on her while she was changing.

No dice.

He clicked his tongue and tasted failure, deciding to close the door very quietly and accept his defeat. He got back up to his feet and did a quick search around his house, walking to the bathroom and hearing the sharp ringing of running water from the shower being in use.

"Damnit...she was in the shower all along?" He frowned, pondering if he should check the lock or not. He decided, in the end, to do the latter since he felt like he overstepped his boundaries far enough. Canarie didn't have a weapon with her since her sword was back in her room, but that doesn't mean he's in the clear. She'll freaking use a bar of soap to shove down his throat and suffocate him if she had too.

He didn't feel like dying today and walked off.

As soon as Gintoki was far away to where he wouldn't hear anything, the water in the bathroom cranked and turned off and the door slowly creaked open. Canarie peeked her head through and watched Gintoki lay back down on the couch to watch TV.

She wasn't wet at all and was very much still in her white pajamas.

She had a feeling what Gintoki was going to do and wanted to make sure, setting up a whole illusion that made it out that she was in the shower to catch him in the act. And surprise, surprise...he did exactly what she figured he would do.

Her jaw tightened. "What a dumbass," Canarie said and closed the door behind her to finish getting ready.

* * *

It was a pit of pleasure and excitement for all neckbeard kind alike, the only thing these intellectual men could agree on. A battle to end all battles, more deadly than war and Canarie's hitman career combined. At the very moment, everything was coming to a head for this single match that will, without a doubt, change the course of history. Better or for worse.

And so they all braced themselves...The battle between the woman who threw away the life of a housewife: Kishibojin Haruna...And the one and only Princess of Song: Dynamite Otsuu!

The diehard fans gave their battle cries and shouted in unison. "O.T.S.U.U. Otsuu! O.T.S.U.U. Otsuu!"

Canarie felt her soul leave her body and become hollow as she stared blankly at the fan club behind her, screaming and chanting their hearts out like the nice little cult they were. Their faces were burning red with the sheer amount of passion they were putting into their words.

Never had she been more concerned about Shinpachi's sanity until now. She was even beginning to wonder if this young man was still the glasses-wearing character she once knew.

No longer able to withstand the sight anymore, Canarie had to pull her face away so she wouldn't have to strain her eyes further with the downfall of mankind. Humanity was nearing its end. She could feel it in her bones and hear it carrying through the wind like a ghostly and haunting whisper.

"_Otsuu-chan...Otsuu-chan...Otsuu-chan..._" the wind said.

Canarie was shivering in her own skin before Gintoki, out of freaking nowhere, slapped the lower part of her back to stop her endless trembling. It made her flinch but it did its job and she stopped shaking because of the shock. "Ugh... Why do we always have to come here? Places like these give me the creeps." Her face contorted with unrivaled disgust.

"At this rate, Shinpachi really is going to become a full-fledged 'cherry-boy'.' Gintoki said.

"Soon? More like he already is. The term came from him. Shinpachi is the originator of the word 'cherry-boy'."

The burning insult caused the originator to snap back to attention, squawking and stuttering his words down at the two. "W-who are you calling a c-cherry boy!" Shinpachi marched up to them, his face now resembling a bright red cherry.

"I feel like I raised kagura better than you," Canarie said bluntly, face still twisted with disgust.

"You didn't raise either of us!"

The potential makings of a challenge began to spark in Canarie's ashy eyes. "Do you want proof?" She cocked a brow. "Look me right in the eyes and tell me you want proof."

Shinpachi flinched and truly did feel like she could whip out some kind of proof right there and then if he egged her on any more. He even questioned if she carried something like adoption papers that his sister might've slipped to her. Either way, he didn't press the matter cause he felt like he would actually lose somehow.

Gintoki blinked and kept his eyes on the match. "Hey, uh, Mamarie, you wanna keep an eye on your other kid over there?" he pointed.

Everyone turned around and stared blankly at the ring. Kagura somehow managed to step up onto the stage and began to shout and challenge everyone around her to a duel.

Silence rolled by the Yorozuya and they even began to wonder if they were still at an otaku infested Kakutougi competition. The sheer stupidity was way too prominent in the air.

Canarie suddenly held her hands up and backed away from the situation, washing her hands free and taking no responsibility. "Nah, I recall you saying you'll take care of kagura and I'll take care of Shinpachi."

"We never agreed on that." Gintoki's eyes twitched. "I don't even remember being married to you."

Before Canarie and Gintoki could even break out in an argument like an old married couple, a voice shouted out from the crowd that sounded oddly familiar.

"What are you doing? Pull back, China girl, throw something in her eyes!" the voice shouted. "Haruna! What are you doing? Why did you quit being a housewife? To seek thrills?"

They soon found the face that matched up with the voice, but it wasn't a good one. More like it was an unexpected one.

Okita Sougo of the Shinsengumi.

Okita stopped his shouting and turned to the Yorozuya, all three of them staring with either blank or puzzled looks on their faces.

* * *

"Now this is a chance meeting," Okita said to the four Yorozuya sitting on the stairs to his right, outside the competition area since it was now over and everyone was leaving. "I'm off today, and it's not like I have anything else to do, so I came to watch my favorite Kakutougi competition." He glanced down at them. "I didn't know you gentlemen would like Kakutougi-"

"I don't," Canarie said bluntly while eating a bag of popcorn she got from the competition, the only good thing to come from that cursed place. "Didn't think you would be a fan of these kinds of things though." She cocked a brow and gave Okita an odd look.

"Oh yeah, I do," he confirmed. "I especially like seeing the women's faces become all weird, you know? It's hilarious."

"What kind of sadistic hobby is that?!" Shinpachi shouted.

"It's really mean to be laughing at people who try so hard," Kagura frowned. "For someone who normally just jumps into a fight, you have no right to be watching this."

Gintoki smacked her on the back of the head. "Someone who just jumped into a fight should not be saying anything."

Okita shook his head and began to walk down the steps while looking back at the four idiots. "If you guys are free, would you come with me for a bit?"

That struck Canarie as weird. She leaned her head back and poured the rest of the popcorn into her mouth. "The hell are you going on about?" she said while munching on her buttery snack that dribbled down her chin a bit. She wiped it away with the back of her sleeve.

"There's an even more interesting exhibition than this that I can show you." Okita offered, which still didn't sit right with the two elders of the Yorozuya.

Gintoki and Canarie gave each other a look before all four of them got up to follow Okita. Whatever it was, it sure as hell would be better than the place they were at now.

* * *

It was like a tsunami of memories that flooded through her mind, taking everything in around her as she walked through the underground slums of the city. The irony about it though was that she never thought she would take a trip down memory lane while following an off duty cop.

The funny thing was that she still had her old habits whenever she had to pass by these kinds of places. Keep your head down, stay on guard, and have a good and firm hand on your things. Look away for one second, and before you know it, you'll be stripped clean of all your belongings. It happened once to Canarie when she first started her hitman business 10 years ago. Pissed her off for months but she learned pretty quickly after that on how to act in the underground.

It was in places like these that she made most of her deals in. She stopped counting long ago on how many unsavory characters walked up to her in the past and offered her a stupid amount of money to put a hit out on someone, most in which the hit being government officials. Though she would only ever accept jobs she knew she could fulfill and have multiple escape options.

And boy...people would get pissed when she had to reject their offer, going as far as to put a hit out on _her _of all people_. _Those were fun times.

Even though 2 years have passed, nothing had really changed during the duration of her absence, but in one last fell swoop of memories, Canarie was hit with the mother of all tsunamis when she and the rest of her idiots were led into an underground fighting arena. It was packed high with screaming and exciting people begging for blood and more gore.

"The underground fighting ring..." Okita said but Canarie cut him off, laughing to herself.

"Rengokukan," she said, breathless and obviously taken back by the sheer magnitude of how much this area had grown. "Genuine death matches..." She smiled like this wasn't new to her.

Gintoki had to take a moment to pause and look over at her. He knew of her old occupation but would constantly forget that she was once an actual assassin, a person who was paid to kill certain people. It was obvious by the way she was acting right now that she had taken place in these kinds of matches.

Canarie noticed his gaze and smirked at him from the corner of her eyes, though her gaze seemed devilish and hard. "Why so surprised? You know what my last job was, so you should know I'm not above something like this." Her voice was low and dripping with malice.

Gintoki's jaw tightened. "Is this also the place where the Kabuki-cho Ghost came from?"

She confirmed his ugly suspicions with a sharp nod of her head. "Yeah. It's where she got her name and origins." She took a deep breath and could easily smell the iron and blood in the air. God, it sure brought back some old memories. "Samurai had to make a living somehow, and those who were not afraid to die or had nothing else to live for...did Rengokukan."

Gintoki felt his stomach roll because of the pure coldness of her words. It's scary but he _can_ honestly imagine her doing something like this. Canarie has a bigger sum of money then he does but now he knows where it all originally came from. "An interesting exhibition alright." He scoffed and balled his fists up tightly.

If he has to be thankful for anything than he's glad she's not doing death matches anymore. No matter how good someone is, all it took was one screw up...before lights out. Canarie would surely die in due time if she was still doing this.

Kagura screamed in Okita's face, shaking the man back and forth. "You actually brought me here to watch something this bloody? If I lose any sleep over this, it's your fault!"

Shinpachi frowned. "This is clearly illegal, isn't it? Okita-san, what kind of government official are you?"

Okita scoffed while still being manhandled by Kagura. "It's _because_ I'm a government official that I can't do anything about this. Lots of money goes through this place, and what's sad is that human greed is directly proportional to one's amount of political power."

"You're saying that the government authorities are in on this too?" Gintoki asked.

"If we don't handle this carefully, the Shinsengumi will lose face as well. This is why I don't like bureaucracies and kinda envy you guys' freedom."

"Just so you know. Don't think I'll help you with this." His eyes narrowed.

"Funny, I thought you and I were of the same breed. I thought you were someone who's disgusted by things like this." His eyes trailed upon Canarie for a bit, narrowing suspiciously like he knows something. "The Kabuki-cho Ghost...was one of their strongest fighters before she disappeared. Right now though...it's him." He pointed down to a man standing in the middle of a ring, a demonic twisted face who wielded a giant iron club. "Rengokukan's newest fighter, Kidoumaru. He's beaten everyone and is the unrivaled king of this place. If you investigate him, you may find something."

Gintoki began to feel his eyes twitching again. "Oi..."

Canarie was quiet, looking upon the twisted face of the demon as her own demonic eyes softened to this almost pitiful stare. "Kidoumaru..." she mutters the name with a soft voice that no one else could've heard. Her jaw tightened just as much as her fists were shaking.

Okita grinned and held his finger over his lips. "Don't worry. This is me asking you...not the Shinsengumi. I'm the only one who knows about this place...so don't tell Kondou-san and Hijikata-san."

That gesture only pissed Gintoki off more. "Hey, Canarie." He turned back around to face her but noticed that she was gone. Gintoki blinked and began to look around the area. "Canarie?"

Everyone else finally noticed that their fourth member was gone. Without even a single warning, she made like a ghost and just disappeared.

* * *

"Maybe she's cheating on you with that demon, Gin-chan," Kagura suggested but got smacked on the back of the head for giving such a stupid idea.

"Why do I have to explain myself for a second time today? When were we ever married?" Gintoki grumbled, walking with what's left of the Yorozuya, now one member short.

Ever since Canarie up and walked out, it seemed like Gintoki's been in quite a foul yet concerned mood. He should've known that this was gonna hit close to home for her, and thinking about it, she might've walked out because she didn't want them to figure out a secret or something. They didn't know where Canarie ran off too but they had an idea that they might see her again if they followed Kidoumaru back to wherever he originally came from. Here hoping it wasn't hell.

"But wasn't it strange for her to just leave like that?" Shinpachi asked. "Do you think it might have something to do with Rengokukan's strongest?"

"Hell if I know. That chick's shadier than a sketchy black market doctor. She doesn't freaking tell us anything and it's starting to piss me off!" Gintoki was obviously upset by her actions and was even beginning to pout like a child who didn't get his way.

"Well..." Shinpachi glanced away awkwardly. "Shady means that you don't tell someone everything. I, uh, on the other hand...asked her about her life as a hitman recently...and she was pretty honest about it," he admitted in a meek voice, seeing Gintoki's eyes grow wide, seconds before an outburst.

"What?!" His jaw dropped to the floor. "The hell do you mean? So you already knew that she did death matches?"

"All I did was ask a question!" Shinpachi tried to defend himself. " She's more of an open book than you think. I never thought she would answer me but I don't think she really cares who knows her past. My sister even knows!"

"So all I had to do was ask her and she would've flippin' answered me?!"

Shinpachi shrugged and refused to meet Gintoki's gaze. "I guess so..."

All three of them quickly had to quiet down to not let the demon know of their presence, surprised though that he didn't hear Gintoki's outburst a couple of seconds ago. They trailed behind Kidoumaru down an old dirt path that no one else walked on, watching the demon with keen eyes before having to stop dead in their tracks to dive into an alleyway to avoid being seen.

A small-statured person walked out of the woods to Kidoumaru's left and marched right up to him. The Yorozuya recognized the pink clothes to be Canarie herself. Waiting at a secret rendezvous for a demon? She stood there with him for a while, seemingly chattering amongst each other.

Kagura's eyes grew wide. "So she _is_ cheating on you!"

"Would you shut up already." Gintoki hissed.

They waited for a couple of minutes while Canarie and Kidoumaru chatted. They talked for a while but the Yorozuya wasn't close enough to make out any of the words that they spoke, only pissing Gintoki off more.

A couple of seconds later, the ghost and demon turned and headed into an old trail that led into the woods, the Yorozuya following close behind. They walked for a bit before stumbling across an old building. A ruined temple that actually didn't look like to have anyone living in it with how broken it looked...until there was the sound of a scream coming from inside.

They immediately got down low behind the bushes.

"Did you hear a scream just now?" Shinpachi began to sweat.

Gintoki jumped up and hurried over to the building. "You guys wait for me here," he said and charged to face the potential nightmare alone.

He imagined the worse before even opening the door to face reality. He imagined a bloodbath where not a single living soul was left. All that would remain was a ghostly woman standing upon the carnage. Her eyes would be bloodshot with popping red veins and her expression would be made out of cold stone, not having a single amount of sympathy left in her delicate features.

His mind mixed and meddled with the question that made him sick to his stomach: what would he do if he was faced with such a sight? Would he have to kill her? Could he kill her? Would Canarie kill him?

Actually, being killed by her hands didn't sound so bad after all.

Gintoki sank down low in front of the old door where he heard Canarie's voice mix in with these strange high pitched screams, but opening it up, he was met with an even stranger sight.

Multiple kids were running around in the room, all of them ranging between the age of 2-10. Canarie stood in the middle of the chaos too with a taxed and weary smile on her face as kids climbed all over her like a tree.

She wasn't covered in blood, but Gintoki found her to be in a situation that felt too odd to be true. It was so unlike her and he never took her to be the one to play with kids. Well...she was just standing there awkwardly while they climbed over her, but still. Putting the name '_Canarie_' and '_Kids_' together in the same sentence...felt really strange.

Gintoki drew up a blank. "What...the hell?"

A person stalked up behind the unknowing samurai and bellowed out in a deep voice. "Thief!" he shouted, taking his two fingers and jamming them right into Gintoki's...

A second later, Canarie was alerted to the whimpering scream of a certain silver-haired dumbass. "Gintoki?"

* * *

"I'm sorry, Canarie-chan. I didn't think he was your friend." Doushin apologized to Canarie, sitting across from her and the rest of the Yorozuya. "It's just, his butt looked a bit suspicious, so..."

Canarie's eyes were half-lidded, showing no concern for the whining samurai beside her. "Ah, don't worry about it. I come across that thought often so it's totally understandable." Even her voice was flat.

"What do ya mean 'suspicious'?!" Gintoki shouted at her while rubbing his sore behind. "And you have that thought frequently? How often do you look at my ass!?"

"As many times as you try and peek into my room, thinking I'm changing clothes when in reality I'm standing right behind you." She cocked a brow and saw Gintoki's face burn red from the corner of her eyes. She scoffed, a smirk rising to her lips when realizing she caught him.

"It's not my fault you have big knockers..." Gintoki grumbled under his breath while continuing to rub his butt. "Damn, it feels like it's going to split in half."

"Gin-san, please calm down. It's always like that," Shinpachi says.

Canarie groaned and rubbed the back of her head. "I didn't think you would take up Okita's request," she said and leaned her head down against her hand.

Shinpachi looked away out of shame. "Sorry, Cana-san, but you left on such a weird note that...we figured you knew who the demon was. It felt like we had no choice."

She blinked to process his words, opening her mouth in an 'O' shape when she realized what he meant. "Oh, you meant Kidoumaru from Rengokukan."

"Yeah. You know him?" Gintoki asked.

Canarie reached underneath the table and pulled something out, [aching a demonic demon mask over her face. It was the same face as Kidoumaru, only realizing that it was a mask the whole time. She shifted to the side and peeked an eye out. "The demon your looking for is sitting right across from us." She placed it down on the table and gestured over to Doushin. "It's who Doushin is."

Gintoki and Shinpachi blinked, staring at the demon mask on the table and back at the completely ordinary man.

* * *

"Did you really follow me all the way out here because you thought I was fraternizing with a demon?" Canarie stood in the doorway of the house and stared down at Gintoki, sitting beside the said 'demon' who was holding a toddler in his arms.

"How was I supposed to know?" Gintoki awkwardly avoided her heavy ashy eyes and indulged himself in the tea he was given. Nothing was working. Canarie was burning a Mount Everest size hole in his back.

"Canarie-chan and I met each other when we were supposed to have a match," Doushin explained, smiling sadly at the toddler. "She found out my...uh, secret though and forfeited the match soon after."

In reality, Doushin didn't want to fight Canarie for the clear fact that he would actually lose the match and die. In terms of strength, it was his win, but he couldn't do anything against her speed. It wouldn't even be a real battle against her. It would've been a slaughter.

"So what? You guys became buddy-buddy with each other right after?" Gintoki asked.

"It wasn't me who got attached. It was them." Doushin gestured to the kids playing out in the yard. "They kept on pestering me on when Canarie-chan was going to come back and play with them, so I felt like I had no choice but to strike up a friendship with her."

"I feel sorry for you-aurgah!" Canarie drop-kicked Gintoki's head and split it open like an egg. "What the hell?" He shouted with blood dripping down his forehead.

"Right back at you, you piece of shit." Canarie stared at him with a glare that could freeze hell over. "Can't you try and behave around the kids?"

"Says the chick who just drop-kicked my head open!"

"It'll take more than that to crack your noggin open. Quit bitching."

Gintoki ground his teeth together and snapped his head back around. "Anyway...these kids are...?" he asked the most pressing question on his mind.

"They're mine," Doushin answered.

"My, you must've been quite the guy back in the day."

"Uh no. They're abandoned." he corrected.

"Orphans...Let me guess, you're doing this for the kids?"

"Do I look like a good person to you? My hands are stained with blood." His words held this deep sadness that reached all the way down to his heart, honest and heavy. "I've always been like this. I'm just a demon who kills people. My one good quality was that I was pretty strong."

Canarie stared at him with her hardened eyes. She walked over to him and sat down on his right. "I guess that's why we both get along so well." She lifted her leg up and leaned her head against it. "We're both what you call...'murderers'."

Gintoki cocked a brow when he noticed the way she said that...words holding no remorse or hesitation. She stated it like it was an iron cold fact that anyone could read in a school textbook. Labeled something like: _'Manakoto Canarie: The ghost and manslayer of Kabuki-cho'._

"It seems to me like you guys and Canarie-chan want to do something about Rengokukan. Don't say I didn't want you. As even the Bakufu is involved." Doushin warned them.

Canarie scoffed at the name. "When are they not involved with something as dirty as this? Their list of wrong-doing is bigger than my own and Dounshin's combined.

Her bluntness made Doushin smile a little. He was quiet for a bit while staring down at the child in his arms. "As long as you don't do anything to his 'Treasure', the demon's not going to do anything," he said and kept a keen eye on the bright and smiling kids playing with Kagura out in the yard. "I'll do anything to protect these kids."

Gintoki laughs a bit. "I never thought I'd heard a demon say something like that. You're already a pretty good dad." He reached down and picked up the toddler that crawled over to him.

"Using dirty money to raise these kids is good parenting?"

Gintoki made an ugly face at the giggling toddler. "But you feel guilty about it now, right?"

"At first I didn't do this because of a loving heart. But because I didn't want to feel guilty."

"Yeah, but you're doing as much as you can to raise these kids." He held the toddler up. "Right, you little brat?"

Doushin went mute, staring at the man who got up.

"Canarie, come on. We're heading back." Gintoki placed his business card right down beside the demon and handed the kid back too. "If anything happens, come to my place. I'll take care of it."

Canarie blinked a couple of times before lowering her head and smiling very weakly. "I'll catch you later." She took a breath and patted her old friend on the back before heading off with the rest of the Yorozuya to leave.

One of the kids watched as the four odd-balls left. "Canarie-chan's got some weird friend. Hey, it's the second time we got visitors aside from her though!"

Doushin sighed and smiled, watching Canarie's small frame walk beside Gintoki's taller one. Seconds later she was finally gone from his sight. "Yeah...though I don't think she'll come and visit us much anymore. She has her own family to deal with."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Nothing says Happy Valentine's day like Canarie being shady as hell! **

**Hello and welcome back once again to our favorite former hitman, Canarie. I hope you enjoyed this long chapter, knowing we got more insight into her career as an assassin. Pretty interesting, right? She participated in death matches before becoming the ghost we all know and love. **

**And without a doubt, Gintoki was defiantly jealous of Doushin!**


	19. Chapter 19 (Rengokukan Arc Part 2)

**ALL MEN ARE ROMANTIC IDEALISTS**

The dusk of twilight was crucial for Doushin as he moved with haste while packing everything up in a horse-drawn carriage that was ready and waiting. The kids helped him as much as they could but he'd rather them just sit in the carriage and wait until it was time to leave, which he hopes will be soon.

He didn't want to sit still anymore. He didn't want to wake up and know what he had done to stay alive. He was done killing. He honestly didn't know how Canarie could do it. Kill without concern for your own mental health. He wasn't like her in that regard, but he also wasn't jealous of her ability to be like that either. He's glad that it felt morally wrong because it finally gave him the push he needed to move. He was leaving Edo and that was final. Taking the kids with him and forget that he was ever apart of Rengokukan.

Doushin took a breath and finally felt like he was able to breathe again. It was near time to leave and most of the bags were packed, the children were climbing up into the carriage, and the moon was just bright enough to light there way from this darkness.

He turned around briskly and came face to face with Canarie's pale features glowing under the glassy moonlight. He thought she was a ghost for a moment and stumbled backwards onto his butt. She really did spook him because she was hanging upside down from a tree, gazing at him with these ashen eyes that were cocked up into a curious stare.

"I knew it," she said cooly. "I'm surprised that you would try and leave without saying goodbye first." Canarie spun out of the tree and landed gracefully on her feet in a swift and soundless motion. It was because she was so quiet that she was able to sneak up on him. A silent assassin. It was a bit frightening to think that if she wanted him dead then...it wouldn't be a problem.

"Canarie-chan." Doushin breathed in deeply before his friend helped him off the cold ground. "You knew this whole time?"

"Kinda had a hunch," she shrugged. "I was beginning the see the wear in your eyes so I figured it wouldn't be long till you baled," Canarie explained when she suddenly heard the children's cheerful cries of excitement.

"Canarie-chan!" The crowd of hyperactive little people ran at Canarie at full force and knocked her over since there wasn't much weight behind the girl.

Her head met the ground at a record-breaking speed and she was seeing stars in seconds before the sky cleared up. Sure as hell was painful, no doubt there would be a knot on the back of her head by tomorrow morning. "Ow, ow, ow. Okay, why don't you get off me first." she pushed herself up as the kids clung to her like sticky tape. They were practically using her body as a jungle-gym. They were nothing but smiles with her. "Go on now. I need to talk to your sensei for a bit," she said and pushed the kids off in the direction of the carriage. "What are you doing, Doushin?" she said in a steady voice, seemingly ice-cold with caution.

Doushin could feel the worry coming off her like a heatwave. Obviously she wasn't sure about his decision. "I know this is selfish. I've killed many times before, but I don't want to kill anymore." It was a struggle to get those hurtful words out since they've been eating away at him for years. He can't take it anymore though. Having these kids with him, holding them, playing with them and knowing how stained his hands were had made it absolutely unbearable. "I don't know how long it'll take but I want to become...someone they can proudly call 'father'."

Canarie's pale eyes relaxed. "It's not easy doing the dirty work to make a living," she said solemnly, glancing over her shoulder at the kids who were huddled inside and talking to each other.

"I don't know how you can do it," he said, causing Canarie to cock a brow at his unusual statement.

"What?" she blinked.

"I know killing people doesn't bother you...and how it doesn't is beyond me." He looked up, expecting her gaze to be cloudless, as it had been since the day he first met her, but something was rather odd within them now. They seemed foreign. He honestly thought he was imagining things for a moment until her eyes turned back to normal.

"You see, that's the difference between you and me, Doushin." She lifted her hand and jabbed her finger right into his chest and over his heart. She smiled at him, gentle but sad. "You had things you can go back too...while I didn't." Her voice was so rough that it felt like a rusty knife across his skin.

Doushin felt his chest clench up and feel cold. He would get these paralyzing effects from a threat but instead, they conceived from this overwhelming sensation of heartbreak and loneliness. He would believe that to be true from all those years ago but now he wasn't so sure. Those words felt distant and old to him. "It's not like that anymore though, right? It looks like you got yourself some friends," he said.

She crossed her arms over her chest and laughed a bit. She found it funny because that sounded like something a dad would say. "Is that what it looks like?"

"Well, you seem a lot happier then you were back then. You're smiling more, which is something I didn't see much," he said and saw Canarie pause.

"Really?" she spoke as it just now dawned on her. Canarie wasn't used to smiling as much but now, every day, she had noticed that her cheeks had turned red and were aching a lot more. Not to mention her throat is always somewhat sore from yelling at Gintoki so much.

"You didn't know?" He took a breath and smiled down at her. "But I'm glad you managed to get out of there. From Rengokukan. It wasn't a place for a young girl to be in."

"I was too young for a lot of things but I don't think it matters in the end."

"I think it does. I think...you grew up way too quickly and you didn't have time to be a child." His voice was so soft and understanding that it surprised both of them. "You didn't have time to be like them. Carefree and innocent." He gestured to the kids behind him. "Even though you can't go back...at least now you can experience it if only a little."

There was an unexpected sound of snapping twigs from deep in the darkened woods that immediately alerted Canarie. Chill bumps ran across her pale skin and made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She quickly got down low and forcefully pulled Doushin and herself back into the thick bushes to avoid being seen. She kept her eyes peeled on the darkness and tried her best to control her erratic heartbeat that sped up as silent minutes passed without another sound. For a moment she thought she was just being overly paranoid until she saw fragments of light began to bleed through the leaves, a group of six rough-looking men soon emerging from the black forest. They looked like they meant business too since they all looked armed and vigilant.

Looking at them, it soon clicked in Canarie's mind that they have to had been from Rengokukan. The timing was just too uncanny. "Now look what we got here. You didn't ask for a going-away party but it looks like you're getting one anyway," she scoffed and reached her hand around back to the handle of her sword. "You should go." Her voice suddenly dropped.

"What?" Doushin's eyes grew wide with confusion.

"I ain't good at preparing going-away presents so consider me holding them back as one." There was a steely and cold feeling in her tone that was itching with excitement. Her eyes were practically gleaming with sinister intent. "You got the kids to take care of so take the chance and leave already, you idiot." She promptly pulled her sword out from its pale white scabbard. It made a loud sharpened sound that could make anyone's ears bleed just by hearing it.

Canarie didn't give him the chance to make the decision himself before kicking him square in the chest with her foot. He fell hard against the semi-wet grass before looking up at her small frame walking out of the shrubs. Her back was small yet oddly confident and dark. She took another couple steps forward before melting into the wickedness of nightfall. As her name conceived her to be: simply like a spirit.

The Rengokukan guys peeked their heads up to the sound of horses pushing a carriage through the woods. They saw Dounshin at the front of it getting further and further from sight.

"It's Kidoumaru!" they shouted. "Don't let him run away! Kill h-" his words fell short when a sharp pain cut him off. His body dropped to the floor with a large gash in his back, seeping bright fresh blood with Canarie standing above him

Once again her sword was gleaming with this corrupted looking silver that appeared a dull gray, dripping crimson blood from the tip. Her deadly eyes peeked up from underneath her lashes that glared harshly at them with a tinge of red madness mixing in with the calm. She took a large step towards the men and raised her sword up to hip level before disappearing in a flash of glassy moonlight, soon descending upon them like a dancing demon under the twilight.

Doushin took the time he was given to get as far away from the Rengokukan guys as possible, using the dusky color of the night to hide his tracks from any potential pursuers, though he believed Canarie will be able to handle them without any worry.

His eyes were blurring with a mass downfall of tears and it was getting hard to see the road, afraid that his heart might just burst from the overflow of emotions that came from the Kabuki-cho Ghost. He felt thankful, so overly thankful that the fall of tears just wouldn't stop.

It was hard to see but he continued to plunge on through the road. The children in the back of the carriage cheered and laughed at the pace he was going and it felt like they were flying with how bumpy everything was. Still, they were enjoying themselves and remained in ignorant bliss to the massacre that was happening behind them.

It was then that a sudden voice, as haunting as a demon, whispered in Doushin's ears that made his blood run cold. "So naive. You really think you could outrun us?" It was, in fact, a demon that was able to elude the cruel ghost from behind, standing behind Doushin at the top of the carriage and carrying a large spear in his hand.

Doushin wasn't even able to react in time before his body jolted forward, a large chunk of sharp metal sticking out of his chest before being yanked back out. He didn't feel much pain because of the adrenaline but his eyes were beginning to cloud with black mist taking over his vision. He felt faint as the world started to slip away, the sound of curious children still present in his ears.

"Hey, sensei?" the little ones asked. "Where are we going? We'd follow sensei anywhere."

His voice was weak when responding. "I'd do the same for all of you...but I don't think sensei can go for much longer."

The children's innocence acted as a filter to what was happening. "Are you crying again? Was it because you got to see Canarie-chan?"

"Yes. Sensei is very happy..." Blood dripped from his mouth while seeping through his shirt as well. He struggled a smile but it was real and genuine in the end. "So very happy...he got to see her...one last time."

* * *

The dull and dragged out silence coming from Canarie's room set everyone at the very edge of what seemed like a sharp needle. The air felt prickly and dangerous as Kagura slowly approached her door that remained soundless. No one else had the balls to do it so it was up to her to knock on it to make sure their friend was alright.

She hesitated before gently tapping her white knuckles against the frame. "Cana-chan? Are you gonna come out anytime this century?" she asked but only the silence answered back, leaving her feeling somewhat dejected by Canarie's sudden isolation, though it was understandable after hearing the news from Okita himself just a moment ago.

Canarie wasn't inside the living room when Okita came over, telling everyone about Doushin's unexpected death, but she might've already had a hunch in the end, maybe even a feeling that told her about it. Either way, Shinpachi was the only person who bared witness to the time she came home only a few hours ago. She said nothing to him and only went straight into her room and had stayed there ever since.

Gintoki was silent as the rain drizzled off the rooftop and tapped against the window. "Ah, I hate rainy days," he said. "Did you really have to tell me that today?"

"Sorry, but I thought you should know." Okita glanced over to Canarie's door that was as silent as a grave. "And I'm not surprised that your little friend is throwing a tantrum, seeing as she could've done something about it." Those words were not necessary and were like throwing salt into an already infected wound.

"It ain't her fault," Gintoki cut in and glanced back at him from over his shoulder. "He was a killer. He knew he couldn't have met a good end anyway."

Okita turned up a curious brow as his face stretched thin with suspicion. "Hearing those words coming from your mouth is a bit surprising, Boss. Seeing how you're letting a manslayer live in your own home."

Everyone flinched as Okita's sharp eyes penetrated their defenses and forcefully dug out the truth. He wasn't sure about it but any doubt was answered with their reactions. Gintoki turned back around, Kagura was sweating profusely, and Shinpachi looked like he was going to pass out from the stress.

Shinpachi shied away from Okita's intimidating eyes. "What...what are you talking about, Okita-san?" He was bad at lying and even Kagura could see right through it. It was almost painful to watch actually.

"Really?" Okita scoffed and leaned back far in his seat. "You're joking with me, right? You take one long look at her and you can clearly see the bloodlust in her eyes. She's a killer, Boss." he chuckled darkly with this sense of excitement beaming off him. "A professional ghost...if I may add." Okita got up off the couch and began to head for the front door.

"Ah? You're..not going to make an arrest?" Shinpachi looked puzzled yet relaxed.

He sighed. "I don't really care, to be honest. Not to mention I don't wanna deal with the paperwork that comes with big fish like her. She's not active so what's the harm. After all, the Kabuki-cho Ghost is...only a ghost after all. She's a shell." His voice had a touch of edge to it that made the Yorozuya shiver.

Okita looked over to Canarie's door and stared at it for a good five seconds to see if he could hear anything coming from inside. The sound of shuffling clothes, squeaking floorboards, anything. It was unnaturally calm for someone who was supposed to be inside it.

Gintoki swiveled all the way around in his chair and saw Okita slowly slid open Canarie's door and take peek inside. "The hell do you think you're doing going through someone else's house without a warrant."

"Out of curiosity. Boss...I gotta ask you something. You're aware of what she is...yet not the tiniest big concern for her state of mind?" Okita's intense gaze turned to them, his lips curling up into an evil kind of smirk.

The hamster wheel in Gintoki's head slowly began to turn again. "Come again?"

"You got to be kidding me. Didn't I say that she was already a killer? She just lost a good friend and you think she's gonna stand still and take it? It's not in her nature."

Gintoki's mind raced with dark peril that momentarily made his body shut down. He didn't move, didn't blink, and didn't so much as breathe for the longest minute of his life. Time was lost for him as he thought back to how long Canarie had been inside her room. Unwatched. Unsupervised. It was only then that he realized he made a grave mistake.

Kagura blinked and was greatly surprised by how fast Gintoki shot up from his seat and rushed over to Canarie's door. "Gin-chan?"

He practically shoved Okita out of the way and ripped the door wide open, staring into the oddly dark room that was completely empty. So that is what Okita was smiling about just a second ago. "Canarie's gone," Gintoki said, his eyes darkening and his fists balling up tightly.

Shinpachi got up and swiftly walked right into Canarie's room to look around. Her window and closet door was open and the clothes she wore from last night was laying on the floor as well. Her sword would usually lay against the right side of the wall but it was gone too. "Gin-san, you don't think she's going to avenge Doushin-san, right?"

Okita crossed his arms over his chest and watched as the horror built up in Gintoki's eyes. "What did I tell you. A killer is a killer. Looks like the ghost is going back home to take back her title as king of Rengokukan."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Day 100 of quarantine and nothing had changed in my schedule at all, accept more hours but whatever. Just reminding you guys to wash your hands and stay away from people!**

**Anyways, it looks like we got a bloodbath in the next chapter. I was asked one time what it would be like if Canarie's bloodlust and anger combined...and...well...we're gonna see what it would be like next time. Wonder how Gintoki and Canarie's relationship is going to handle this little...mishap. **


	20. Chapter 20 (Rengokukan Arc Part 3)

**THERE ARE SOME THINGS THAT EVEN A SWORD CAN'T CUT**

He swung his iron mace around with all the ferocity of a dreadful storm, pulverizing and nearly decapitating the samurais who were charging at him. He was unmovable and a force to be reckoned with, standing at the very top of Rengokukan now and taking the empty throne for himself that once held two legends. Kidoumaru and the Kabuki-cho Ghost.

No one in the whole stadium could take that position from him now. Rengokukan was his territory. His and his alone. He was the unrivaled king.

Upon the balcony stood an ominous figure of one of the Tendoshu, staring down at the bloodbath in front of him and heavily entertained by the strength of Onijishi, the new King of Rengokukan. "That guy sure gets the job done. After watching a monster like that fight, you'd think samurai are just little kids. The Dakini tribe fighting style is sure a spectacle to see. Almost like the Yato clan who are on the brink of extinction," he said gleefully.

Standing behind him was one of the men who was present on the night of Doushin's death. He looked uneasy with heavy and fresh scarring on his face. His wounds were inflamed and throbbing but not from the pain, but from the anticipation that still hadn't settle at all from the previous night. "Yeah...but I think we might've stirred the pot last night," he said, clinging ahold of his arm that had bandages wrapped around it.

"Why would you say that?" The Tendoshu asked but didn't sound the least bit concerned.

"We ran into quite a character last night when trying to find Kidoumaru. It was dark so we couldn't really see anything aside from a small framed...child, I think. Nearly all my men who were out there were killed by that thing, and it all happened in like a blink of an eye."

The Tendoshu paused and thought about it for a moment. "A child...?" It was odd to him because his mind immediately went to two years ago, a time where a murderer was walking the streets of Kabuki-cho. A ghost, they quoted, taking the form of a small-statured woman who could easily pass as a child.

The Dakini tribe's man continued his rampage and carnage count until the end of his mace was soaked with blood and dripping into the ground. He stood tall and felt strong, stronger than anyone else in the ring. He fought. He danced. He swung his weapon around until he realized that no one else was standing.

"What's wrong?" he chanted. "Is there no one else? Is this all the samurai have to offer?" He slammed his overly heavy mace into the ground and cracked the floor below him.

He looked around at all the slain bodies when he heard the soft crunch of gravel coming from the entrance behind him. The Dakini snapped his head around and swung his mace up in his shoulder to prepare himself for the new challenger. He watched with keen and focused eyes at the darkened hallway and listen as the footsteps got louder and more defined. He noticed that they were light and slow. No, they were calm and purposeful. He was taken back when he saw that it was a small framed woman walking out.

The Dakini's mouth fell open. "A brat?"

The person's body looked small but he could tell that it was an adult after a while. Her hair was pale, a sandy hue, and her eyes were the color of ash, like a day after a morbid fire. She had on a short white kimono, a blue and white haori, and a long black scarf that was wrapped around her neck to cover her mouth and nose. Only her unusual eyes were exposed.

He turned his head up at the girl and scoffed. "You lost or something. Hurry up and get lost, kid!" The Dakini looked down at her hand and noticed that she was carrying a stark-white scabbard sword, so she had to be a challenger.

Canarie was calm when she spoke, not an ounce of anger or sarcasm in her voice. "Which one here killed Kidoumaru?" Her voice was almost like the calm before the storm, something deadly brewing just below the surface.

"Kidoumaru?" The Dakini walked over to her and lifted his hand, poking his large finger right into her shoulder and pushing her a bit. "The one who sent that bastard to hell was me," he said almost proudly, showing off his frightening razor-tooth grin.

Canarie didn't react to his intimidation tactic but her demeanor slowly did began to morph. Her eyes hardened to stone and these deep red veins started to appear around the sclera, turning them lifeless and empty. Her skin gradually changed color and turn pale, almost as white as a frosty blizzard that gave off this dark undertone. She looked utterly empty now, no sign of life in her eyes or personality on her face. It was almost like a switch going off with how fast it happened, along with the strong smell of iron radiating off her...it smelled of blood.

"Oh, I see," she said with a voice as rough and grinding as sandpaper.

The Dakini flinched and felt his hands start to tremble. He took one step back when he felt a cold trace of ice against his right eye, suddenly losing all sight in it. It hit him a second later though, agonizing pain that felt like an electric shock ripping through his body. Bright crimson poured from his wounded eye and dripped onto the ground. He was hysterical now, his mind in complete panic with the logic that was failing him. Still, he asked the question: What just happened?

He looked up with his blurry vision coming from his last good eye and saw that the woman had drawn her blade, blood dripping off the tip of it. There wasn't a single change in her expression and her feet didn't look like they moved either. He didn't even see her hand so much as twitch, but somehow she was able to cut his eye out in a fraction of a second?

That was impossible. That was not human.

The Dakini drew his large mace up over the head and took a strong step forwards, hurling it down right over her. Canarie stepped to the side just as it slammed against the ground with enough force to crack the surface and throw up a cloud of sand. Her eyes grew wide when she saw the massive weapon emerge from the sand storm and slam right into her. He thought he was victorious at first until he looked to find the body. It was nowhere to be seen though despite swearing that he hit her.

"What?" His eyes grew wide when he felt an icy chill against his back. He turned his head around to his mace and saw that Canarie had grabbed ahold of it and was crouching down low in a striking position. "You little...!"

Before getting hit by the mace, she had jumped in the air and made herself as small as possible, placing her scabbard between her and the weapon to absorb most of the impact. She knew that the Dakini had wide swinging motions that would pull their weapon from sight for a moment, so she had allowed herself to get hit to hide but stay close.

Canarie's eyes blazed with hellfire and her voice was dripping with malice. "Say hello to Kidoumaru in hell for me." She swung her sword towards him in a second and burned an image of herself into his eyes just before cutting his head off in one fell swoop.

She jumped off his large body just when it fell against the floor with a heavy drop. Swiftly, she twirled her sword around and pulled it back into her scabbard before taking in a deep breath and exhaling. Canarie closed her eyes as the screams of excitement finally settled in after the brief moment of silent confusion. It felt familiar to her, the sound, the feeling of warmth on her body from the spray of blood. It all never felt euphoric though. Not even now, two years later. Even her revenge felt mundane. There was never any pleasure, as cries of the people who wanted to see more surrounded her.

"Kabuki-cho Ghost!"

It was that name though that finally sparked a feeling of coldness down her spine, returning her to reality but not nearly quick enough. Canarie gasped sharply when she felt this awful feeling of a cold sword against her warm skin. The cut went deep into her shoulder and made her jump away to get some distance. She pulled her hand over her gushing wound and looked up to see herself slowly getting surrounded. They weren't samurai or anything like that, but they were working for Rengokukan.

"You sure ruined our show. Do you really not have an idea about what this place is?"

Canarie didn't say anything but felt a bit faint from the lack of blood, though not light-headed enough to not count the people around her. There were about five guys to her right, three to her left, and five more out in front of her.

She pulled her hand away from her wound and moved it down to the hilt of her sword and slowly got into position. Her eyes became deadly focused and not a single emotion stained her face. She was standing before them now as just an instrument. A means to an end. A ghost out for revenge.

"Yeah. I know what this place is," she said calmly but flat. "I really don't care though. I'm here just because you pissed me off."

Canarie sucked in a deep breath and breathed out slowly through her clenched teeth. Her bloodshot eyes snapped open and glared intensely at them before she disappeared.

* * *

"Get out of the damn way!" Gintoki howled like a banshee at everyone and pushed the crowd of excited people aside to get into the stadium. His body was quivering with worry and he couldn't breathe, much less see straight with how many people were surrounding him. He honestly didn't remember the last time he was this panicked. He wasn't in complete chaos though. He still had one clear goal that was able to make his body move. He needed to find Canarie, and the way the crowd was reacting already told him that she was on the move. "Get out of the freaking way!"

Kagura was the only one strong enough the split the crowd like a sea and bulldoze her way through to create a path for Gintoki and Shinpachi. "Make way! Make way!" she screeched at the top of her lungs and actually frightened some of them to step aside.

"We need to get inside. Please let us through!" Shinpachi tried his best to keep up with Gintoki but the man seemed to have a one-track mind that made him run faster than anyone else. "Gin-san!" He called out but already lost sight of him.

Gintoki shoved his way through the crowd with one more strong push and almost stumbled over the railing when he made it out to the open. Only then did he realized that his initial nightmare of a massacre had already come true.

The air was filled with the strong smell of iron blood and the ring was soaked in it too, almost like a swimming pool of scarlet. Bodies laid sprawled across the ground with their detached arms and legs not far away. Their faces were unrecognizable with how many wounds were married to their skin, and every one of them was motionless and cold too.

The only one who was standing was an emotionless woman with pale, void-like eyes and a blank facial expression. She was drenched in crimson and had these wounds all over her body, Some shallow, others deep, though none of them looked like it even fazed her. It appeared as if she was dozing off into a completely different dimension with the way she was staring ahead into nothingness, effectively ignoring the cries for more.

Gintoki felt a sharp tingle down his spine, an animal instinct-like reaction that was telling him to leave her behind, to get away and forget about the woman out there. He didn't listen to it though and took in a deep breath, clenching ahold of the railing with all his might and forcing himself to stand still. "You damn brat..." he breathed out.

Canarie lifted her head like she actually heard him, looking side to side until she spotted him up in the crowd. Her eyes grew wide and Gintoki could actually see the spark of life returning to her face. It was like she had turned the switch off at that very moment.

She blinked a couple of times to grasp her surroundings and looked down at herself, dripping in blood and aching with fresh wounds. Canarie almost looked shocked before she suddenly tightening her jaw and hardened up once more to keep herself together. She closed her eyes and clenched her hands tightly before limping out of the ring and into the dark hallways, leaving bloody footsteps and bodies in her wake.

* * *

After the incident, the Shinsengumi came by minutes after the massacre and cleaned up the mess that was left behind. It was almost like those corrupted police officers were waiting for the Kabuki-cho ghost to make her grand appearance after 2 years worth of silence. She disappeared just as fast though after the fact and remained still at large. Also, the Tendoshu who was watching over the madness soon left after Hijikata and Okita walked onto the scene.

The whole situation still felt strange for Canarie and she still wasn't sure what happened either, if she were to be honest. She remembered hearing about Doushin's death when this sudden...calmness came over her. She was more than just a little angry. She was furious. Having this unparalleled rage boiling up in a single moment that made something snap inside her mind. It was after the fact though that she realized she was in a trance of some kind. There was one clear goal in her head. One clear path. One clear mission. She wanted to kill them. She _needed_ to kill them. She _had_ to kill them.

Canarie doesn't remember ever being pushed to the point of becoming that angry before, so the experience was new to her. She could recall the last clear thought that ran through her head before she fell under. She thought, 'Why did this have to happen to him?'. Doushin wasn't the best human being in the world, but he was a decent man. He had a rare kindness about him that she liked and found very genuine, and she knew that those kinds of people were rare in today's day and age. The world didn't have many guys like that anymore, so it truly felt like a loss when he was killed.

Canarie took in a deep breath and flinched when she felt a sharp pain across her shoulder. She ran her hand over the bandages and frowned. Despite the odds she was facing, she managed to walk out of Rengokukan with more shallow wounds then deep ones. The one on her shoulder being the worse since it actually came as a shock to her. But really...Canarie got more than a little lucky. She's surprised she wasn't dead.

"Canarie-chan!" the sound of young voices came from the crowded roads of Edo. Afterwards, Doushin's kids pushed themselves down the streets and ran in Canarie's direction.

She didn't have time to react when they all suddenly launched themselves at her and ended up knocking her over. The shock from hitting the ground knocked all the precious air out of her and made her wheeze for more, not to mention the pain from her wounds was agitated too. The kids didn't let up though and continued to smother her in tight hugs that prevented her from breathing properly. Canarie was only barely able to pry some of them off her neck so she could breathe in the musty Edo air again. The kids were still refusing to let her go and she ended up just leaving them be.

Okita was finally able to spot the kids within the crowd but was rather surprised to see that they were laying on Canarie. He could tell that her cheeks were flush from the lack of oxygen, which was pretty amusing to him, really. "The problem child returns," he said, strolling over to them with his hands deep in his pockets.

Canarie coughed a little while patting the kids' heads. "Okita?"

"Thanks for the help in Rengokukan." He gave her an appreciated wave that still seemed half-assed. "With your involvement, you saved the Shinsengumi a world of hard work."

Canarie turned somewhat grim and looked away while studdering on her words. "Yeah...about that," she dragged out.

"Don't worry. I'm not gonna say anything about you being a ghost." Okita gave a big eye roll and really looked like he didn't care. "You helped us this one time so I'll look the other way. Out of sight out of mind, you know."

She slowly raised a brow. "Thanks, I guess..." She still sounded unsure.

"By the way, you sure got beaten up. You're a pretty sorry excuse for a ghost." He pointed down to the bandages that were wrapped around her body, some of which were covered by her clothes.

She briefly looked down at herself and sighed. "I was angry and wasn't thinking."

"You can't!" The kids sharp voices caused her to jump and looked down at them. Their faces were flushed bright red and their eyes had turned glassy. They clung to Canarie for dear life and hugged her just to keep her from moving. "You gotta take care of yourself more! You avenged Sensei but it won't mean anything if you die in the process," they cried with snot running down their noses. They looked at her so desperately that it really threw Canarie off.

"H-Hold on for a second," she tried to calm them down. "It's really not as bad as you think-"

"No!" They only interrupted her and turned their lips down into a pout. "You gotta promise us to keep yourself safe! It's not good to make people worry about you!"

Canarie wildly blinked at them as her face twisted into deep confusion. "Worry?"

"They got a point on that one." Okita cut in. "I think you might've scared the hell out of Boss with that little daredevil stunt you pulled."

That made Canarie fall silent as the kids slowly but reluctantly got off her. They were still teary-eyed while grasping ahold of her hand to pull her off the ground.

"Anyway. I gotta take these kids to a place they'll be looked after, so I'll catch you later." Okita called the kids over and waved a single hand at the dumbfounded assassin who was left standing in the middle of the streets. The kids waved and gave their crying goodbyes to her before following Okita into the crowd.

In the end, Canarie was left speechless.

* * *

_"You see, that's the difference between you and me, Doushin." She lifted her hand and jabbed her finger right into his chest and over his heart. She smiled at him, gentle but sad. "You had things you can go back too...while I didn't." Her voice was so rough that it felt like a rusty knife across his skin._

_Doushin felt his chest clench up and feel cold. He would get these paralyzing effects from a threat but instead, they conceived from this overwhelming sensation of heartbreak and loneliness. He would believe that to be true from all those years ago but now he wasn't so sure. Those words felt distant and old to him. "It's not like that anymore though, right? It looks like you got yourself some friends," he said._

_She crossed her arms over her chest and laughed a bit. She found it funny because that sounded like something a dad would say. "Is that what it looks like?"_

_"Well, you seem a lot happier then you were back then. You're smiling more, which is something I didn't see much," he said and saw Canarie pause._

* * *

Canarie eventually did make it back home to the Yorozuya after getting some groceries, but dread boiling up in her stomach immediately skyrocketed the moment she placed her hand on the door. She was frozen in place and in a slight panic too. She was worried about what Gintoki had to say about the matter, or if he wanted to hear anything about it at all.

When Canarie went to Rengokukan, she didn't even remotely consider anyone else's feelings and only prioritized shutting the battlefield down, and since then Gintoki hadn't said a word to her after getting back, not after seeing the state she was in. She surprised even herself when she looked in the mirror for the first time afterwards. Everything about her was unhinged, uncontrolled, and simply unfamiliar. She looked cold and she felt cold.

After walking inside, she found the house eerily calm with no sound at all. She would have even fooled herself into thinking that no one was home, but no such luck. Gintoki looked to be the only one there and sat in the living room at his desk. He wasn't looking at her and it was obvious that he turned around the moment he heard the door open.

"Ah..." Canarie stood in the middle of the room like an awkward fish out of water, fiddling with her fingers to try and find the words that were far beyond her. "Where's Shinpachi and Kagura?" Not what she wanted to ask but at least she said something intelligible.

Gintoki took his time but did decide to speak after all. "They went out to run an earn for the old granny downstairs." Everything down to his passive-aggressive voice and the atmosphere his back was giving off told her all she needed to know. He was mad. Plain and simple.

"Oh, good. I actually wanted to talk to you privately." She paused for a moment and chewed on her lips, hesitating and speaking a lot quieter than before. "I wanna apologize about...what happened in Rengokukan."

This finally struck Gintoki's curiosity and he turned around to face her. He could tell she was nervous by how much her face was flush. She was even avoiding eye contact too. To be totally honest though, seeing her look this timid and red-faced was a cute and rare sight to behold. If he had a camera then he would risk taking a picture of the moment.

Gintoki arched his eyebrows and prepared himself to hear the world's most heartfelt apology. "Go on. I'm waiting." He crossed his arms over his chest and wore the most irritating grin she had ever seen.

Canarie fought the twitching in her eyes that was intensifying. She wanted to tell him to shove it and wipe that grin off his face more then she wanted to apologize. "Well, for starters...I don't think I did anything wrong. People like them just have to...die, I guess, but I get that it can be an inconvenience for you guys and, uh...my bad?"

Not once in his life had Gintoki been faced with such sheer disappointment that it clearly showed on his pale face. What made it worse is that Canarie actually looked pleased with herself despite the crappy apology, if you can even consider that to be one. She didn't even say the word 'sorry'.

"That's it? That's all you got?" He suddenly sprung up from his chair and pointed a trembling finger at her. His red face could even rival Canarie's in that moment. "That has to be the worst apology I had ever heard! Were you even trying?"

Canarie flinched and began to feel her eyes twitch again. "I was! I just don't like apologizing so I never practiced for one!" she barked back, stomping her foot against the ground like a child.

"Then why the hell were you even trying if you didn't want to in the first place. There is no way I'm gonna accept that! No freaking way!"

Canarie threw her head back and groaned loudly. She knew better than anyone that it was a crappy apology. She was just more so impressed that she was able to say something similar to that extent in the first place. She knew even before saying anything that this wasn't going to go well, and it turned out to be true. "Yeah, yeah..." She looked down at the bags in her hand and lifted them, pulling out her ultimate trump card. "Would you accept an apology through homemade chocolate sundaes then?"

"Canarie, I accept your apology." He gave an encouraging thumbs up with a completely serious face.

"Man, you're easy to convince..."

* * *

Gintoki had tasted heaven at the tip of his tongue and had witnessed God's hands in action. He had found it, the god tier of homemade sundaes. He wanted to marry those hands but the personality that came with them was too crappy to take the risk. Still, he wouldn't have ever imagined that Canarie was able to make a miracle such as these. It was utterly astonishing and he just didn't get how she was able to make them taste so good. She was using the simplest ingredients too and he was watching her the whole time.

He sat silently at his chair and was now on his third sundae while Canarie was still working on her first, eating slowly and sitting cross-legged on top of his desk. Either of them had said anything to each other since she made them but the silence was rather comforting to him. It felt nice to eat with her, just the two of them.

"So..." Canarie spoke up, a bit hesitant. "I guess you like them since you're already on your third one," she said, pointing her long spoon down at his two other empty cups.

Gintoki looked away and sunk low in his chair. "Their passable." That was the biggest lie he had ever told and Canarie could see through that like glass.

She cocked a brow. "Yeah, ah-huh. Next time I just won't make them then." She smirked when she saw the panic rise in his eyes. Canarie laughed a bit. "You should really be more honest with yourself, Gintoki."

He scoffed at her remark and eyed her. "If we're going with the honest route then...I ain't gonna lie to you. You really are a crappy person," he said bluntly. To his surprise though, Canarie didn't even look fazed by that, only smiling like she already knew.

"Well, Gintoki...I don't remember a time that I wasn't. I can't help that I'm a brat." Her smile turned up into a devilish smirk that made his heart speed up.

"The first step in admitting you have a problem is admitting you have a problem."

"Shut up." She frowned and looked away.

"Don't worry about it though." He stuck his spoon in his mouth and raised his hands above his head, leaning far back in his chair. "I'm a shitty person myself, so we're in the same boat. Us brats gotta stick together."

Gintoki closed his eyes for a brief moment when he heard Canarie snort. He opened a single eye and peeked over at her. She still had her back to him but he could clearly see her ears turning a bright shade of red with the corner of her mouth curving up into a genuine smile. Gintoki smiled back and closed his eyes.


End file.
